Playing God
by BelkatyaInGlassBoxes
Summary: New Moon, 150 years later. Edward left, and he never returned. Yet Bella's a vampire. This isn't your normal meets the Cullens again, skips off into the sunset with Eddie. 1st fic on here.. slightly OOC and def. non-canon.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: ok. I love the fics where Bella gets changed, and meets the Cullens again years after New Moon. What I don't love is that she always forgives instantly, and acts like nothing's wrong. This is how I play it.

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except a nasty virus which has kept me in bed for a week. It's not fun.

* * *

If God's the game that you're playing  
Well, we must get more acquainted  
Because it has to be so lonely... to be the only one who's holy  
It's just my humble opinion, but it's one that I believe in  
You don't deserve a point of view, if the only thing you see is you

Woah

You don't have to believe me  
But the way I, way I see it  
Next time you point a finger  
I might have to bend it back  
And break it, break it off  
Next time you point a finger... I'll point you to the mirror

This is the last second chance  
(I'll point you to the mirror)  
I'm half as good as it gets  
(I'll point you to the mirror)  
I'm on both sides of the fence  
(I'll point you to the mirror)  
Without a hint of regret... I'll hold you to it

I sigh as I pass the familiar sign into Forks. One hundred and fifty years, and it hasn't changed one bit. I swear that even the moss is the same, dripping wetly onto the brown, wooded floor. I close my eyes briefly to recollect myself; I can feel the edges of the hole that I fight so hard to keep closed rippling as I speed into the town. Forks is still under a heavy, constant cover of cloud and rain. It is still small. People still stare at the flashy car driving through their midst. And over there – isn't that a descendant of Lauren and Conner? I'd recognise that stuck-up expression anywhere.

You may ask why I'm still alive to return to Forks one hundred and fifty years later. The answer – well, you can wait for that. I'm a vampire, I'll let you know that much. My brown hair elongated when I made the change; its red streaks are now more prominent in my waist-length subtle curls. Al – Al – his sister would be proud of me if she could see what I'm wearing. Or maybe not. Dark blue skinny jeans with timeless black Converse and a long black wife-beater. She would probably be wanting me to be wearing a few designer labels. Well, she gave up all rights to my wardrobe over a century and a half ago.

I pass the cemetery. My undead heart jolts as I see that it has got a whole lot bigger than when I lived here. I sigh, pulling over. May as well get it over with now. It's torture to walk at human pace when I am so used to running or driving fast cars. Yes, I'm a nomad. I have been for as long as I have been cursed to this existence. Cursed because I live it alone. I only ever wanted this life to stay with him forever, and since he left me, that isn't an option. However, after spending such a long time moping, I had an epiphany. He left me. He doesn't want me. I don't want someone who doesn't want me. So I'm going to start living. You may ask, if I've had this epiphany, why is it still so hard for me to say their names? Because it still hurts.

It's only fitting that I begin my new life where I began my first new life, in Forks. I've decided to live like the Cul-. Like they did. Blending seamlessly into society, going to school, possibly work if I can get away with that age.

I know I can do it. I've been working on controlling my bloodlust. I hunt animals, of course. But being a nomad has given me free reign of the world, and I have therefore spent quite a lot of time in inhabited places. The scent of human blood doesn't bother me at all. I guess that's another trait remaining from my human life.

My sharp eyesight spots the first grave a few feet away. _Charles Swan_. I choke back a sob as I see that he died only a few years after me. I'm buried next to Charlie. Well, something is, under my name. My brow furrows as I note that someone has recently placed white roses on our graves. Maybe a descendant of the Blacks? I begin to look for their graves, but stop as I remind myself that their graves would be on the res. A foot away are the graves of Angela and Ben, and I bite my lip, a gesture remaining from my human days. Suddenly, names spring up from everywhere, Mike Newton, Jessica Stanley-Newton, and I have to return to my car.

I knew that this had to happen. I knew that one day I'd have to face that my past has gone. But I wasn't prepared for the reality of seeing the proof. As I start my car up, I realise where I am automatically headed. My old street. My old house. Someone else would be living there now, making use of my old room, my old kitchen. Charlie's old living room. I don't linger.

-

The only problem I have with my new house is that it's big. I'm only me. Mind you, with millions of dollars accumulating in my bank from various ventures, it leaves room for the many top-mark items that I'm going to install. For example, I'm going to change one room into a training ground for me to practise my powers in. Yeah, I said powers. I never expected to have any. I mean, when have I ever been special? It's not like I can keep a guy. Or see the future. Or tamper with emotions. Or read minds. Well, I can't read everyone's like him, just whoever I'm in contact with, like Aro. Yeah, I know Aro. I spent quite a long time with him in my earlier days, and still go back to visit. The Volturi have become like family to me, certainly more of a family than _them_.

The Volturi were the ones who first made me realise my power. I'm power-permeable, you see. Aro came up with the term. Not only do I have my mental shield that made me feel like such a freak in my human days, but I can absorb the powers of others. I don't take them entirely, but I still absorb them. We first realised with Aro..

*Flashback*

The walls of the main room were cold, even I as a vampire could feel their overbearing presence. The three ancient vampires were enthroned infront of me, and had been introduced as Aro, Caius and Marcus. Aro was looking at me speculatively, as was Caius, who was intrigued by me. Marcus looked bored out of his skull. Aro held out his hand, and I took it tentatively, after a sharp look from the blonde haired Caius. I winced, bracing myself for whatever it was that Aro did, but all I felt was a subtle tugging. Aro looked excited.

"Ah," he murmured. "Why is she silent?"

"Silent?" I asked nervously, withdrawing my hand.

Everyone stared at me; it was extremely off-putting.

"What is she on about?" Caius muttered irritably, but Aro held up a hand to silence him, putting his hand back to mine.

"Isabella?" it was Aro's voice again, but his lips weren't moving.

"It's _Bella_," I told him automatically, but stopped as I saw Aro's mouth curling up into a cunning, fox-like grin.

"Impertinence!" Caius snapped, but I didn't pay him any attention, because at that moment I was seeing every single thought that Aro had ever had. Most of them were concerning power, and were saturated with unadulterated greed. There were flashes of people I recognised from my past, and some things that others would associate with the self-elected ruler of the vampire world, like compassion. There was an abrupt halt in the thought flow, and I looked up to see that Marcus had put his papery palm to Aro's other hand. Again, there was a strange tugging in my head, and it became apparent that the three Ancients were connected by a deeper bond than I had ever imagined possible. The bond from Marcus to his brothers seemed to be weaker, but it was still there. Caius' seemed to be there out of necessity, but it was strong; however, this was nothing compared to the hold that Aro had over his brothers - like steel cables.

More interesting was that of Aro to me. It was of pure, unmodified interest – and longing?

It became even more apparent when I realised that this was exactly what Marcus was telling Aro.

I had absorbed the powers of two of the most powerful vampires in existence.

*/FB*


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**: Ok, chapter two. I apologise if I travel too fast. Also, if updates don't come quite fast enough. I operate on the same wavelength as JKR: If you feel like writing, write. If you don't, don't force yourself. So there may not be a definite updating schedule; RL can get in the way a lot, especially now I'm doing my A-levels. Sorry about that.

Bella may be slightly OOC in this chapter.. infact the rest of the story.

THANKYOU Gabriels-girl5035 for my first ever review :) feel free to take the literary character of your choice and marry them..

Also to Dulce82 for being my second ever reviewer. Feel free to take the literary character of your choice and propose (I'll hold the wedding next chapter :) )

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except a hot chocolate which is my life force and an unhealthy obsession with the thesaurus. I definitely don't own (unfortunately) the other books to which I make a reference in here :/ Or the TV program.

Twilight and other books: SM and DE.

The Simpsons: MG

Hot chocolate and unhealthy obsession with the thesaurus: BKIGB

After that revelation, Caius had become rather affable towards me. He even offered me a place on the guard, as his own personal guard. I refused; not that I needed to because Aro had adamantly refused Caius' request and offered me the place of being his apprentice. I accepted, but only because I was aware of the fact that I was a relatively newborn vampire, and I needed to learn control. He was so sad to see me go, even if he did disapprove of my lifestyle.

I pull myself out of my memories, and find myself wandering a stone corridor still on the first floor. I snort as I realise that my house looks like that of a stereotypical vampire right now. I say house. No place can ever be home without loved ones, which I am afraid my life is sadly lacking in.

Anyway, no need to dwell on such misery. I push a wooden door open tentatively into a large room, listening to the squeak of it leaving its frame with a grim satisfaction. If there's one thing that being in Volterra taught me, it's that having heightened senses doesn't immediately mean that you can hear _everything_. There are some vampires that are stealthier than others; having a squeaky door on my practise room means that I have no fear of interruption.

I don't know exactly how many powers I have. I try not to take notice of the tugging in my mind. I never _wanted_ extra power. I'm not sure I even wanted a power in the first place; I mean, sure, it'd be nice to be special, but I've never been one for standing out. Unless you count being the only human in a coven of vampires for a few months.

I know for sure that I've procured Aro's power, along with Marcus, Jane and Alec. I have a feeling that I've got Demetri's too. And I might have a few from nomads or visitors to Volterra, but I'm not sure what they are. Why, then, do I need a practise room? For one of the powers that I know for sure that I've got. There's an Egyptian coven that's run by a stand-offish vampire called Amun. In this coven is a boy named Benjamin, who holds control over the very elements. I can't be sure, but I can bet that Aro arranged his `catch-up` meeting with Amun and his coven for the purpose of having me nick his power. I don't `nick` it. I have no control over it. But at the end of the day, I ended up with Benjamin's power.

Hence why I am now standing in the centre of the colossal room lifting the cobbles from the floor with my mind alone. It's a strange feeling. There is only one way I can think of to describe the power, and that is to reference a series of books by David Eddings: The Belgariad and Mallorean. The way the sorcerers and sorceresses in those series operate is by drawing on their willpower, and that's exactly what I do with the elements. I fall back on my inner strength and will the earth to move, or the river to stop flowing or whatever.

I tell you, when I catch up to him, he may have some serious trouble when I will his manhood to catch fire.

I will a few more unwilling cobbles from their comfy plaster beds before carefully replacing them and turning to the French doors that lead out to my back garden, and the thick, green forest; I don't want to have to do too much work on my house this soon after moving in. It's raining, and I laugh at the irony that I now face. When I moved here as a human, I hated the cold and wet landscape that I faced. Now I love it. I love how fresh everything is. I love the smells rising from the moist vegetation, and I love listening to the calming sounds of the raindrops whistling down from their clouds to splash delicately on the leaves. My favourite is when they splash on my face, and trickle off my marble-like exterior. It's refreshing. It also puts me at one with mother nature, which gives me some remorse when I smash a few trees down in anger. I always end up righting my actions the next day.

"Hey, forest of Forks," I smile, looking out at it from my position in the doorway. "I'm Bella. Remember me? I watered you with my tears one hundred and fifty years ago. Now I'm back. And I'm going to live this time round." With that, I launch myself into the foliage, dashing through the wet trees and listening to the scurrying of unnameable organisms as I pass. I let myself free as my legs move unbelievably fast. It takes me maybe ten minutes before I judge myself to be perhaps seventy miles from home. Yeah. I like to run. And I like to run fast. Unlike some, I don't run from my problems. Infact, most of the time I run _into_ my problems. I know my friends back in Volterra like to point that out. They were worse when I first told them the whole of my past.

Before I can sink into my memories, my finely tuned sense of smell catches a wonderful scent. It isn't as tempting as human, but it isn't as revolting as a herbivore. My ears pick up the steady heartbeat of a large carnivore. I stand as still as a statue, listening to the blood pumping round its furry body as the beast lumbers ever closer to its death. A bear.

I see its face appear from behind a tree perhaps a hundred metres away. He has no chance. I am upon him before he's taken another step. My leap from my hunting stance to a feeding stance takes me less than a second, but I can see every leaf on every tree clearly as I pass. I can see the pulsing skin that stretches over the bear's jugular, and it is into this that I sink my teeth. The bear roars its discomfort before collapsing on its side as I drain it of its life force like a policeman with coffee.

Strange. I don't remember Charlie drinking that much coffee. Or eating so many doughnuts.

He wasn't exactly Chief Wiggum.

The blood rushes down my throat, and I drink as much as I can. I start school tomorrow, and I will need to have fed well. The bear deflates with every pint of blood withdrawn from its body, and soon it lies as a bulky rug on the forest floor. I wipe my mouth and mutter an apology to the brute as I gather my will to dig a suitable grave. It doesn't take me very long to shift the body at all; with my strength, I can lift it one-handed. As a last thought, I cause a small tree to grow from the earth, marking the grave. I take something from nature, and give something back. It's the least I can do.

**Author's note. **There's a little secret I've been keeping from you... there are subtle hints in the past couple of chapters. If you can guess it, you can have.. I don't actually know. Leave your guesses and prize-wish in a review?

**PS**, sorry about the incredibly long AN at the top XD


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note**: Chapter three, Also, I'm English, so sorry if I make mistakes with the American school system!

Guys, thanks for the amazing response! It's really cheered me up and it's making me write faster ;)

Sharp eyed people: I don't know Conner's last name, so I'm gonna assume that Lauren made him take hers.

Dulce82: feel free to now marry your chosen literary character :) Congrats.

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except a pair of very cold feet.

Twilight: SM.

Pair of very cold feet: BKIGB

I spend the night reading, and re-committing all knowledge needed for my year as a Junior to memory. Not that I needed to re-commit it, but it gave me something to do. It wasn't as if they were going to turn up at the same school as before, one hundred and fifty years later. Because he didn't want me.

I shouldn't be brooding about it. They are out of my life. Instead, I make my way into the bathroom and shower, whilst trying to recite the square root of pi.

"1.77245385.." I trail off as I realise that I'm reeling off calculus. I HATE calculus. Instead, I recite Shakespeare. It's a sure-fire way to calm me down as medieval English spills out of my mouth, and red-hot water spills down my back, relaxing the muscles that I haven't realised are tense. Before I know it, I only have forty-five minutes before school starts. Reluctantly, I step out of the stall and dry myself off. As my hair takes the final steps towards drying, I take the dreaded steps towards my closet.

It's not exactly to _her_ standards, but it's still bigger than your average eighteen-year old's wardrobe. I want to dress casually; I don't want to draw any more attention to myself than is necessary. I know my beauty will already cause unwanted attraction, especially from the human boys. I decide on another pair of dark blue skinny jeans, and gold high-tops. I also resolve to play up the russet tones in my hair by wearing a long green t-shirt. Looking in the mirror at my reflection, I have to admit that I like what I see. My eyes match my shoes. Who needs a bag?

Well, me, for school, it transpires. I've always been a fan of the big bags that fit absolutely everything inside. Phones, music players, school books, thermos flasks of blood, you name it, it fits. I sling the bag over my shoulder and head off to my car.

The police in Forks obviously don't get much to do during their shifts. I speed straight past a patrol car, the officer inside it dozing lightly; he jumps and looks around too late for the roar of an engine that is already long past him. I pull into the parking lot with minutes to spare. It hasn't changed. Not even the building has changed, although it has been obviously repaired in quite a few places. Same old Forks. I hop lightly out of the cab, trying to ignore the blatant stares of my fellow students, and make my way into the main office.

My bag hangs weightlessly off my shoulder as I halt at the main desk. Both main office and desk are in exactly the same place. My eyes focus in on the name tag of the receptionist. Young and blonde, Miss Emma Hurley looks nothing like Mrs Cope. She smiles up at me after her initial shock and instinctual fear at my flawless face.

"Hello, can I help you?"

"Yeah, please," I reply. "Bella Swan. I'm new here, this is my first day.." I've kept my name. One hundred and fifty years later in a town where there will be no descendants, it's highly unlikely that it will cause a stir. There's no way that I could be linked to some police chief from decades and decades ago. My undead heart seems to stutter as I recall my father, and I grip the desk harder. But seeing as my knuckles don't whiten anymore, I haven't even fazed the secretary.

"Oh yes.. good morning, Miss Swan, and welcome to Forks High. Let me just get your schedule.."

I rap my knuckles on the wood in a bored fashion, stopping only when I accidentally make a dent in the desk. The sooner this year is over, the better. I can move on. In my vampire years I have developed a heavy dislike for staying in the same place for too long. It seems to be too soon that Miss Hurley returns with my schedule. I let out a sigh of relief when I notice that I'm no longer subjected to gym. Just because I can do sports without falling over now doesn't mean that I like doing them. However, I'm let off calculus, or trig. Again, I can do them.. but dislike them. Spanish will be a breeze; I'm fluent in quite a few languages now, and English literature will take no effort whatsoever. The only thing. Yeah. Typically, I have biology.

I day-dream my way through the two math hours, before I have Spanish. Seeing as my Spanish is better than my teacher's, I don't have to do too much. My partner for this lesson is the overly-helpful Sarah Yorkie, who's black hair is as straight as her great, great granddad's, though thankfully not as oily. I wonder if he ever did get married to Katie Marshall. Behind me are sat Holly Newton and the descendant of Lauren and Conner that I saw on the way into town, Nikki Mallory, who is wearing her great, great grandmother's stuck-up look again. I can almost feel her glare through the back of my head. I can just imagine her as a vampire: if looks could kill..

Sarah invites me to sit with them at lunch, and I accept, not wanting to sit alone and draw more attention to myself. It's obvious that Nikki isn't happy, but what do I care? I dutifully sit next to Sarah, and opposite who I'm told is Holly's brother, Mick. He grins at me straight away. _Oh God, not again.. _I take a sip from my flask and listen to their talk of pep rallies and prom. There's no way I'm going. The end of lunch cannot come fast enough, and as the bell rings I leap to my feet.

"What've you got next, Bella?" Mick asks me, also jumping to his feet. I groan internally.

"Biology," I reply grudgingly, and Mick's face lights up like a beacon, highlighting his blood flow. I swallow and prepare myself for the oncoming disaster.

"Me too!"

I allow him to tail me to the classroom like a lost puppy, and he overtakes me to sit in what is ostensibly his lab table. It's in exactly the same place as mine used to be when I was paired with.. I shake my head as I pass my slip to my teacher, a stuttering, baby-faced man called Mr Mutter. He stammers slightly and directs me to my table. Typical. I take my seat next to Mick, who looks overjoyed at his good fortune. I groan and hide my face in my textbooks.

I don't know why sitting at our old table should affect me as much as it does. I am OVER him. He was obviously over me a long time ago. I don't need him in my life.

"_Hello.. I'm Edward Cullen.."_

I'm over him. Like a bridge over troubled water.

"_Bella.."_

I don't need him anymore than I need setting on fire.

"_Bella.."_

"Miss Swan?"

I haven't realised that Mr Mutter has asked me a question. I pull my hand back on the pretence of tucking a strand of shiny hair behind my ear, and `accidentally` brush Mick's arm on the way past, thus gaining the answer from his head. Thankfully, I also get the question I'm supposed to be answering, so I know that it's right.

"Nicotine," I reply sweetly, and Mr Mutter nods before launching a question on the unsuspecting student behind. No, I definitely can't wait for this to be over.

**Author's Note** Ok, chapter 3 over. Don't expect the updates to come flying in as quickly as this all the time. I have been ill, therefore having the time to write. Anyway, in here's been a MAJOR hint to that teasing question last chapter.. guesses, anyone?


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**: Chapter four... don't worry. You get glimpses. Well, a glimpse.

Sharp eyed people: got the answer to my hint yet?

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except a killer blinding headache.

Twilight: SM.

Killer blinding headache: BKIGB

The rest of my first week back follows much the same pattern as my first day. I go to school and repeat my schedule. I get talked at by Sarah and Holly, sniffed at by Nikki, and followed everywhere by Mick. Homework isn't a problem, and in fact I do most of it on my dashboard on the way home, most nights. The teachers soon learn to leave me alone in lessons unless no-one else knows the answer, and I think I may have scared my Spanish teacher with my superior knowledge.

She asks me if I've ever lived in Spain.

I answer yes, for a couple of years. She doesn't need to know that I hung around in the less-sunny areas of Spain for around a decade last century. Nice country, Spain. Nothing compared to Italy, however.

The level of civilisation in Volterra is impeccable. Sure, they may like to have Heidi bait groups of unsuspecting tourists into their castle for dinner, but you can't deny that they're polite about it. Aro's a pretty nice guy once you look behind the power-hungry vampire who feeds from humans and certain pain-causing guard members.

Right now I'm flicking back through my journals, up in my attic library. I've kept a journal ever since I can remember; I took the ones from Phoenix to Forks, and when I was changed I made a quick pit-stop at Charlie's when I knew he'd be at work to get my stash and a couple of choice items – my books -; I wanted to have my human memories with me; I didn't want to forget. The one I'm reading currently is the journal I started on my first night in Forks. It details my old friends, and my first impressions. I laugh when I compare this journal to the one I'm writing now, and find that my impressions of Mike and the others are almost exactly the same as my impressions of their descendants.

I'm jolted from my journals by the irritating buzz of my cell phone vibrating from downstairs, in my unused kitchen. I'm down there before it's even started ringing properly. The name on the screen doesn't surprise me.

"Hey, Aro."

"Bella! How are you?"

I smile wryly. "I'm as well as is to be expected, Aro. How are you and your brothers?"

"We miss you." Aro's short answer isn't sincere. Infact, if I know Aro, it translates to "We miss your power."

"I'm sure you don't," I reply just as shortly. "From what I hear, we have many distractions to keep us busy in this life."

"But my distraction went across the world from me!" Aro whines. "Things are so _boring_ around here without you!" Translation: "I lost a slave! We've missed your power-permeable skills!"

"Aro, you sound like a child!" I can get away with acting like this towards the Ancients. Aro loves me. Well, Aro loves my power.

"And?" I can almost envision him pouting with his papery lips. The thought makes me chuckle lightly, and I have to hold my face away from the phone so that Aro doesn't hear it as well.

"Are they coming yet?" I ask. I have been waiting from two old comrades to join me in Forks ever since I let Volterra know I was going.

"They left a couple of days ago," Aro tells me, knowing exactly who I mean. "But they might take their time getting to you. They're going around Europe first."

"Oh, ok." My undead heart is singing. It's been a couple of decades since I've seen this particular couple, my best friends. I miss them.

"Bella..." Aro's voice trails off, which is unnatural for him. He's normally quite confident – driven by his power. But he cares about me, and so I tense. Whatever he has to say can't be good for me. "You may be getting some other company too. Infact they should be there any day now..."

"Aro... are you subtly telling me that you want me to fight off a coven and steal their powers?"

"Well... yes, stealing their powers would be nice. But please don't fight them. They're... friends of the Volturi. I just wanted you to be aware incase you caught an... unrecognised scent."

I heave a sigh of relief. I'm not altogether keen on the idea of single handedly fighting off an entire coven, even if I have got Alec's power to help me. Alec's power is to cut off all sense from a person – leave them standing in the dark with no clue as to what's going on around them. Reportedly, you don't even feel it when you're burnt.

"Ok. Thanks for the heads up, Aro. I guess I'd better go hunt then."

"Ok. Bye Bella." He hangs up, his voice twisted with disgust after my use of the word `hunt`. He never has approved of my diet.

-

I'm running through the forest again, in search of what you could call dinner. I'm in the mood for carnivore – if it _does _come to a fight, I'm going to need my strength. I smell a mountain lion to the north west, and hare after that glorious scent. I can hear the startled flapping of birds that are interrupted from their roosts and are fleeing this part of the forest until I have passed through. I can hear the terrified thumping of rabbits' paws as I hurtle past them, but I don't take any notice of them; I am entirely focussed on my lion.

I find him in a hunting crouch in a clearing perhaps four miles from the rabbits. He isn't waiting for me, he's eyeing up a quivering bush. Further inspection with my nose tells me that he's prowling a muntjack (small deer), but I don't even give him the opportunity to blink. I leap onto his back and sink my teeth into his bloodstream without further thought. The feeling of the hot red liquid rushing down my throat seems to drain the red film from my eyes simultaneously, and I can see my surroundings clearly. The corpse drops from my hands, and I bury it as I did the bear. The clearing is now marred by a young sapling in the middle.

Before I can turn my thoughts to going home, however, there is a tugging in my mind. Is this the new coven that Aro warned me about? I am severely confused. Where am I? Realisation hits me, and I know that I'm in Washington. There is fear radiating from the quivering bush; it suddenly heightens and the deer darts off stage left.

I sniff the air, and I come into contact with the scent of the other coven. It's strangely familiar, and I wonder if I've met them before, in Volterra. More tugging at my mind.

`.._there's another vampire...`_

_`I can't get a read!`_

_`I'm getting apprehension, nervousness..`_

I tear my mind away and thank God that I'm downwind from this intruding coven. I quickly will the rainclouds to finally burst and run for home, hoping against hope that the water will hide my scent. I don't want any uninvited guests tonight.

-

As I unnecessarily (a human practise that I now do unconsciously) sit down on the sofa in my colossal living room, I flick on CNN to catch up with the events of the world. It's been a habit I've gotten into. I always like to know what's going on around me in case of emergency, but today's news is no different to that of every other day. Pollution threatening to re-rip the hole in the ozone layer that scientists so carefully repaired only a few decades ago. The ever-present threat of nuclear war. A possible breakthrough for a cancer cure.

The news always depresses me. The breakthrough for a cancer cure has been a possibility for years. I know of a cure – but it's not one that would really help with the human population or its happiness. Can you imagine? –

`Is Mom better, Dad?`  
`Yeah.`  
`Why isn't she home then?`  
`Well, the thing is, Mom's better but she can't come home because she might drain us of our blood. Also, she sparkles in the sunlight.`

I don't think it'd go down very well.

There is a quick weather report after the summary of the news headlines, and it tells me that I will be unable to attend school on Monday – it'll be sunny. I sigh, and settle down to spend the night in turn-of-the-century England.

**AN** so yeah. Major hints. Anyone got my clues yet?


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**: Chapter five.. Sorry for the abruptness of the last chapter. Sometimes I tend to move too quickly. Anyway, yeah, they're here. mentions of Volterra couple!

**WARNING** – this is where the M rating starts to come into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except an unhealthy Fobsession.

Twilight: SM.

Love Drunk: Boys Like Girls

Unhealthy Fobsession: BKIGB

I make my way through every Jane Austen novel that I own, fingering the delicate pages gently, losing myself in the storylines and pretending that I live in turn-of-the-century England. I then sigh, as I realise that I can't prevent it any longer. I have to contemplate my newly acquired powers.

The first one that I realise I now have is empathy. That would explain my mixed-up emotions. My confusion, and sudden realisation of my surroundings. It would explain why I felt waves of fear coming from the deer in the bush after I'd drained my kill. Huh. Empathy could be a useful one. I've only ever known one empath before. And he tried to kill me on my last birthday after a certain _somebody_ thought it'd be a good idea to throw me into a pile of glass.

Let's just say it wasn't. That damn well hurt.

It can't be his brother. I only managed to read three minds. There are only three other vampires, and there are seven in that particular coven. Family, they call it. It's certainly not a _family, families _stick by eachother, they don't just tell you they can't be bothered with you anymore and run off to play with their other distractions. I don't know why I ever wanted to be a part of it, if I'm perfectly honest with myself, which I'm trying to be more and more.

I've learnt that it doesn't pay to be dishonest with oneself. It only leads to more pain and hurt if you keep things from yourself.

Hang on a minute.

Did I just say, `only managed to read three minds?`

I wasn't touching anyone.

-

Calm down, Bella. Just because there are an empath and a mind-reader in the same coven doesn't mean that it's _them_.

I repeat this over and over to myself. On the words, `Bella`, `empath`, `mind-reader`, `coven` and `_them_`, I rip another cobble from the floor of the practise room and disintegrate it. Sometimes I add flames for that wonderful orangey glow around the room. It looks pretty, albeit out of place in this sombre chamber that's reminiscent of a dungeon.

By this time, it's Sunday afternoon. I've seriously lost track of time whilst dismantling my house. I make my way over to the phone. As it's going to be sunny tomorrow, I need to come up with an excuse. I call Holly, and groan as the phone rings a ridiculous number of times. Humans and their slow pace. I work on my voice to make it sound rougher as the ringtone sounds again and again.

She finally picks up. "Hello?"

"Hey Holly, it's Bella."

"Oh, hey Bella. What's up?"

"Well.. um," I pause, as humans often do during calls. "I'm not feeling too well, and I don't think I'll be in school tomorrow. I was just wondering if you could let the teachers know when you go in?"

"Oh. Yeah, sure. Bye Bella." And with that abrupt ending, Holly hangs up on me. _Such a nice girl.._

This gives me the entirety of tomorrow to catch up with my friends from Volterra. They're going to be joining me at school the day after. I really can't wait to see their reactions when they see the human gang I've been roped into sitting with. It's much like my first time. Only better. I smile as I think about tomorrow, and decide that the situation calls for music before my guests arrive. I know I went through a period of time when he first left when I refused to listen to it, but then I realised that I loved music and that just because he didn't want me anymore didn't mean that I should give up my true loves in life.

**?POV**

I stand in the bushes watching her. She's grown so beautiful, as only happens when one is made into one of us. Her long mahogany hair, streaked with so many tones, shimmers in the light as she moves into what she has designated as her living room. There is a large sound system in the corner, surrounded by music, and it is towards this that Bella is shimmying. Shimmying? She never used to do that. She's grown more confident, then. She takes down a CD – a CD! I thought that they'd all gone since the world made its transfer to MP3-only music. Obviously Bella is one of those who still likes to have the actual record in her possession. She takes down a CD from her extensive collection, and slips it into her player, skipping through the songs and turning the volume up. As the music starts up, I jump back in shock – a mean feat for a vampire. The Bella I knew was not into the sort of music I was listening to. Obviously her tastes have changed along with her species. Or maybe just broadened; my sharp eyesight can pick out the title of a very dusty Debussy record on the very top shelf. It looks like it's never been listened to in its long and boring shelf life.

_Hey, hey, hey, hey_

Top down in the summer sun  
The day we met was like a hit and run  
And I still taste it on my tongue  
(Taste it on my tongue)

_The sky was burning up like fireworks  
You made me want you, oh, so bad it hurt  
But girl, in case you haven't heard_

Bella is _dancing. _Dancing. Bella does not dance. She made that pretty clear at prom. But now she's like a bird, totally free in her movements, and – good lord, where did she learn to dance like _that_?

_I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, forever is over  
We used to kiss all night, now it's just a bar fight  
So don't call me crying, say hello then goodbye  
(Oh yeah!)_

There's just one thing would make me say  
(Oh yeah!)  
I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, but now it's over  
(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey)

She sings the chorus with a voice like bells – no pun intended – and screams the lyrics out with so much pain and feeling that it makes me want to cringe. The first two lines of the chorus seem to hold so true for our Bella, but at the same time as sounding pained, she seems to be liberated with each word. She even ends up smiling during the `hey, hey, heys`.

The expression on her face when she started to sing haunts me. We really didn't do her any good by leaving. With my perfect memory recall, I find it easy to conjure up an image of human Bella in my head to compare alongside the new, improved version. I pay no attention to the words that she's singing as my gaze roves over first human Bella, then vampire Bella. Shit, she's lost weight. And I don't mean it in a good way, either.

Our Bella was thin anyway, but this Bella can probably slip through one of those gaps in a chicken-wire fence. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea. She's _thin_. Her arms resemble marble sticks. She can't have gotten this thin whilst vampire, so it'd have had to have happened whilst she was human. And seeing as she doesn't look much older than when we left her, I'm gonna have to assume that we were the cause.

I tear myself away from these uncomfortable thoughts as Bella leaps onto her sofa. I'm not kidding. Our Bella is jumping onto her sofa, seizing the lampshade from her table and dragging it with her. She's using it as a fricking microphone! She sings the end of the song powerfully, and I consider the implications of the lyrics. It's not hard to guess who they're directed at.

_All the time I wasted on you  
All the bullshit you put me through  
I'm checking into rehab 'cause everything that we had  
Didn't mean a thing to you_

I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, but now I'm sober

I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, forever is over  
We used to kiss all night, now it's just a bar fight  
So don't call me crying, say hello then goodbye  
(Oh yeah!)

There's just one thing would make me say  
(Oh yeah!)  
I used to be love drunk, but now I'm hungover  
I love you forever, but now it's over

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na

Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Now it's over, I still taste it on my tongue  
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na  
Na, na, na, na, na, na  
Now it's over

Bella grins and jumps back down from her sofa.

"Thank you, thank you!" she cried to her imaginary crowd, making little mock bows. _Cute, Bella. _It's so funny that I let out a laugh, but curse as Bella notices the sound and looks directly at where my head was just a second ago. She walks over to the glass wall through which I have been spying, but her attention is grabbed, as is mine, by the sound of an approaching car. She runs to the door and throws it open as two vampires leap from their vehicle and dash to meet her, too late to knock.

Holy shit.

Is that -?

**AN. **Well, it was fun to write in a different POV for a while, even if I didn't tell you whose ;) . Again, sorry if I move too fast. It's one of my bad habits.

So, the Cullens and the Volterra couple are here. What could possibly go wrong?


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note**: SORRY – we overran our broadband limit, so I couldn't go on the internet for ages! *pouts*

Chapter six.. we've got the Volterra couple, they're not who you'd expect!! (I'm sorry, I just had to do it. I love them so much, I couldn't let them go.)

And we have our favourite coven too :)

**WARNING** – this is where the M rating starts to come into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except a huge mountain of homework. And two replies on twitter from ANDY HURLEY!!!!!

Twilight: SM.

Huge mountain of homework and two replies on twitter from Andy Hurley: BKIGB

"Bella!" The female with the shoulder-length, light-brown hair shrieks, scampering up the driveway like a golden-eyed squirrel. Her mate, the male with the medium-length dark brown hair laughs as he follows her to the door.

"Angela!" I shriek back with just as much, if not more, enthusiasm, grinning and holding out my arms in time for my old friend to rush into them and hug me. "Time's treated you well, Ange, you don't look a day over eighteen." Angela laughs as her mate takes his turn hugging me. "Hey, Ben. Good to see you!"

"You too, Bella. We've missed you - wait, how many games have you got?" Ben Cheney cranes his neck around the doorframe to inspect the entertainment centre set-up.

"Ordered some more in when you said you'd be joining me," I tell him, making room for him to blur past. In seconds, he has the controller in his hands, and a game loading in the console. Angela rolls her eyes lovingly at her husband. A hundred and fifty years later, and he's still into games and comics. She wanders into the living room to join him on the sectional couch.

"So, Bella.. How're you doing?" I know that Angela isn't just referring to general well-being. After our circumstances changed, I confessed everything to my best friend and her boyfriend. Absolutely everything. I didn't think Angela had it in her, but now the price on _his_ head has risen considerably. Angela has taken shares, and I really wouldn't like to be him when she catches up to him.

"I'm actually doing alright, thanks," I answer as I take the loveseat that's positioned perpendicularly to the couch upon which I was dancing mere minutes ago. "It's not as bad as I thought it would be." The hole in my chest begs to differ, ripping painfully around my ribs, but the Cheneys have only just come back to live with me again instead of living in Volterra, and I don't want to ruin it with my past.

Angela smiles at me kindly, the genuine friendship radiating from her and warming, it seems, the entire room. "Oh Bella, that's good! How's school? I can't wait to go again." Her thoughts, however, tell me differently. `_Oh, I hope I can handle it. My bloodlust isn't that bad. I've practised at the Volturi's `dinner time`,` _Angela shudders mentally, recalling horrible images._ `..and I've had that practise in the cities with Bella too.. I really want to go!`_

"It hasn't changed a bit," I tell her, grinning. "There's a Sarah Yorkie, with Eric's black hair. I can't see any of that Katie in her though. There's Holly and Mick Newton –" Angela snorts " – Yeah, Mick's a replication of Mike, and Holly's as big a gossip as Jess was. Then there's Nikki Mallory. She looks like Lauren, but with Conner's eyes. And she's just as much of a bitch."

"OWNED!" Ben yells from next to Angela, punching the air with his pale white fist as he wins a match online. He notices us watching him in perplexity. "Oh, sorry. Carry on."

"Sounds like fun then," Angela laughs, her eyes sparkling as if they were in sunlight.

"Oh yes. You're gonna love it." I let my voice trail away and watch Ben's progress on the original version of Halo ODST for a while. Angela isn't fooled.

"Bella.."

I turn back to her and sigh heavily. "I was hunting earlier.. I caught three new scents.. and I picked up two new powers.." I realise that I have become rigid as my mind fights against itself. "Mindreading from a distance, and empathy." I relax as Ben's excitement crashes against me in a wave as he yells at the screen again.

"FAIL! On an EPIC SCALE!"

Angela and I giggle indulgently before turning back to the matter at hand.

"Ange.. the only coven – family – I know with those powers.."

".. is the Cullens," Angela finishes for me, knowing my dislike of using their name. "Bella.." it's her voice that trails away now. ".. we caught an unfamiliar scent."

I frown. "I heard a coughing sound just as you arrived.."

Ben hurls the controller to the floor (making a dent in the wood) and jumps up to perform a little victory dance as the final brute in the firefight dies with a final, failed, `I will tear the flesh from your bones!`. Personally, I've always thought `I'm'a EAT you!" would be much funnier.

"Oh yeah!" Ben chants, throwing himself on his knees and creating grooves in the floorboards as he skids on his knees, to halt before the door just as there is a knock on it.

We stare at it, totally and utterly frozen. I get up from the sofa and glide across the room to open the door as my nose is assaulted with seven scents.

**To be continued..**

**Right away..**

The door creaks open across the floorboards and something very small hurls itself at me like a squealing marble cannonball with `PIXIE` stamped across it. Something very big is jumping up and down outside, gradually sinking further down as his weight causes him to make holes in the soggy ground. The something very big is also squealing, and it sounds very triumphant.

"I TOLD YOU IT WAS BELLA! HA! AND I TOLD YOU IT WAS ANGELA AND BEN!" There is a smack. "Ow, Rosie! That hurt! Hey Bella!" The enthusiasm radiating from him is almost overwhelming, and what with the sadness, fear and pity I'm also getting, I'm about ready to crumble.

I put Alice down with some difficulty as she's clinging to me as if I'm a life support. "Hey, Emmett." I force a smile, but I'm guessing it comes out as a grimace as they all look slightly taken aback. _Good_. _What were they expecting? _"Long time no see." I say this wryly as my eyes roam over the vampires that came so close to being my family forever. Alice's eyes seem to be brimming with venomous tears that she can never shed. Emmett is grinning at me, slightly unsettlingly, I must admit. Rosalie looks resigned, and uncaring. _Yeah, nice to see you Rose. _Carlisle and Esme are looking at me with pity in their stares. _I don't need their pity._ Jasper looks as though he's ready to bolt from the house what with all the emotions he's feeling. _Yeah, me too, __**pal.**_ But then that's all washed away by the crushing presence of _anger_ that I feel when my gaze passes over the bronze haired _prick_ that's ruined my life. Jasper flinches and shrinks back into my front yard. I realise that both Angela and Ben have taken hunting crouches at my sides and are growling lowly under their breaths. To give the family infront of me a little taster of my feelings towards them, I let loose. Even Emmett staggers back.

"Hey, Jazz dude.."

"That.. " Jasper sounds as though he's had the unneeded breath knocked out of him. "..that wasn't me."

All seven heads swivel to face me, looking incredulous.

"Oh what, I'm incapable of anything special?" I hiss, dropping to join Ben and Angela. Alice looks hurt. _Huh_. _What goes around comes around._ "What the _hell_ are you doing in my house?"

Carlisle steps forwards. "We noticed that there was another vampire in the area when we pulled up, and decided to introduce ourselves. Emmett.. ran ahead."

"It was _you_ in the bushes?" I snarl at Emmett, who's still grinning.

"Yeah. Nice dancing, Bella." He winks and Rosalie whacks him again. "Ow.."

I snap to my feet, fast as lightening. "You hid in the bushes and watched me dancing?"

"Yeah. I especially liked the part where you jumped onto that sofa and –" This earns him a smack from both his wife and his youngest brother. I quirk an eyebrow. Why did _he_ need to get involved?

"What, you mean like this, Em?" I reach into his mind, find the bit he's remembering, and leap onto the sofa to perform an encore. After all, I love Emmett to pieces. He may have left me, but how can anyone stay mad at those dimples? Besides, it was probably Edward's doing.

Emmett laughs, and claps energetically. "Yeah, like that." Rosalie hits him again, but she's smiling, looking up at me with, it seems, brand new eyes. She's certainly never looked at me that way before.

Alice is smiling at me too, as if she's proud of me for finally growing a backbone. Carlisle and Esme are smiling indulgently. I'm assuming that Jasper's hiding in a bush from my anger. _He_ looks furious.

"Bella, what have you done?" are his first words to me, and I hear Jasper run farther away.

"Jazz.." Alice whimpers, going distant, and there's the tugging again. "We're gonna need you here. _I'm_ going to need you here!"

Jasper is in like a shot, but now dives behind the sectional couch that I'm still standing on.

"What do you _mean_, what have I done?!" I screech at him, my vision going the deepest shade of red it's ever been.

"When.." he sighs and does that irritating thing of putting his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "I asked you not to do anything stupid. And now look at you."

Angela and Ben dive to restrain me as I leap from the couch; Jasper has to steady it. But it's clicked, and I've had an epiphany.

"Since when, _Edward Anthony Cullen_, have you been put in charge of my life?"

"Since you got the label, `danger magnet`," Edward retorts, looking haughty.

"On _whose_ authority?"

".." Edward appears to be thinking. It shouldn't be too hard. It appears that there isn't much going round Edward's head at the moment except the comprehension that someone has disobeyed him. _Shame_.

"You took it upon yourself, as always, to decide what's best for everybody else! And I tell you, _Edward_, it sure as _HELL_ wasn't best for me!"

"Bella, I was _trying_ to protect you!"

"Oh yes, _everyone_ knows that the best way to protect a `_danger magnet's`_ life is to tell them that you don't love them, leave them in the middle of a dark forest, effectively _throw them to the wolves_ _**and**_ a bloodthirsty, vengeful vampire, and bugger off for a century and a half with your _distractions_!" I shriek, my vision totally clouding. I hear Esme gasp, and also a high pitched, vibrating whining that seems to be emanating from the small thing next to me. The whining is growing higher and higher in pitch, and I move away, fearful of Alice imploding.

"It would seem," Carlisle manages to get out, "that we've all heard different versions of this story. Bella, would you be so kind as to tell us yours?"

I glare at my _ex_-boyfriend, and his family. I glance at the Cheneys, who nod encouragingly, eyes still hard and black.

I take a deep breath.

**AN. There you go. Again, sorry for the wait! I'm not sure if I've got the reunion right so far, but hey.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note**: Chapter seven... thanks for the reviews on the reunion! I'm still not sure about it :/

Here we have something that I know I've been waiting for, something else I'm not sure about.

Also, I've twisted a few events.

Yeah.

**WARNING** – this is where the M rating starts to come into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except A REPLY FROM JOE TROHMAN ON TWITTER!

Twilight: SM.

Reply from Joe Trohman on Twitter: BKIGB

_I'm watching Edward walk away after he's told me that he doesn't want me. _My mind is struggling to recall the human memories, but I've got the conversation out. Esme is shaking subtly in Carlisle's arms. Emmett looks furious. Rosalie's eyes have narrowed. Jasper is quaking at my remembered emotions. There is a high pitched keening coming from Alice. _I'm stumbling forward chasing the direction he went, tripping over the tree roots and rocks embedded in the forest floor. _I've borrowed a gained power for this: projection. Right now, everyone in the room is in my memories, seeing and feeling everything I did. _I'm curling up on the forest floor, completely lost in the trees. My breathing is ragged, as if I've been punched in the gut, and I feel numb. As my head sinks to the ground, I feel my consciousness slipping away; when I wake up, this will be all a dream._

_But it isn't. When I do awaken, I'm in a pair of very warm arms. It's still dark. It's still cold. I'm now muddy, and I feel groggy, as if I've banged my head. My throat is sore from crying._

"_Bella Swan?" a masculine voice from above my head. "I'm Sam Uley. We've been looking for you - your father's worried sick. Have you been hurt?"_

_There is a strange tone to his voice when he asks if I've been hurt. It's as if he's expecting injury._

"_N-no," I stutter, watching lights come closer to us in my blurry human vision. _

"_Are you sure?" Sam Uley's voice is calm and measured, old and experienced. _

"_Yes.."_

"_Hmm.." he sounds as though he doubts me, but doesn't push any further – we've moved into the lights now and he raises his voice. "Charlie! I've got her!"_

I skip quickly through _that_ aftermath, lingering long enough on my zombie state to make Rosalie's eyebrows join together, so creased is her forehead. Alice still sounds like an imploding mosquito, and Jasper has his hands on his head.

"Sorry, Jasper," I apologise. "You can leave if you want."

"No – No," he whispers. "I need to watch it – I need to live out the consequences of my actions."

Edward growls at him, as though agreeing. I snarl back.

"Jazz, I forgave you as soon as it happened," I tell him. "It wasn't your fault. I should have been more careful, and after all, it was that dolt who decided to throw me into a pile of glass. It's only our nature." I push my feelings of reassurance towards Jasper, and he smiles gratefully.

"Still, I'd like to see.."

"Yeah, come on Bella!" Ben chimes in enthusiastically. "It's getting to the good part!"

I smile indulgingly at my friend, who is bouncing up and down, and immerse my house in my memories once again. I decide to take them through random points of my zombie state to elaborate.

_Everything's fuzzy. Charlie rarely comes in to check on me anymore, but when he does, he makes it look as though his daughter is living. The clocks have altered, the calendar has changed. There are Christmas decorations hanging from the curtain rail. My semi-conscious mind registers that it's December. _

"_Bella, that's it!" my father explodes from my doorway. I have been lying in the same position on my bed for around a day now. I haven't really gotten up from my bed except for work and school, which I go through like a robot on an automatic schedule. The covers are moulding to my thin form. I know from the reflections in the wing mirrors on my truck that I look almost like a vampire now. Dark circles under my eyes. Pale as death. Give me some glittery body lotion and a winning lottery ticket, I'm good to go. My cheekbones are prominent; my face is like the moon, pale with craters. My eyes are dull and lifeless above the circles. "I'm sick of you just – just being! You have to live, Bella. And I'm not sure that you are living here. I'm sending you to Jacksonville."_

_My eyes regain some semblance of life, and I scream. _

_The calendar in my room indicates that it's now February. Almost five months to the day that Edward dragged me through the mud. Fears of being sent away from the place my life REALLY began have made me buck up my ideas. If my so called family don't want me, I sure as HELL don't want them._

"Aww, Bella!" Emmett pouts, and I let out an accidental giggle. His dimples are showing, but I can tell that I've hurt him.

"Sorry Em. But put yourself in my position."

"I guess." Emmett is sullen, and he turns his gaze to the ground.

Esme looks devastated. "Bella, I'm so –" She stops and also contemplates the patterns in my floorboards, but her thoughts continue. _`Sorry for everything. I never wanted to leave.. It was like losing a daughter, a piece of my unbeating heart..`_

"Esme.." I sigh and she looks up at me, her beautiful, ageless face etched with sorrow. "I'm sorry."

Carlisle takes her in his marble arms, and I continue, giving them a brief over-view of my time with Jacob, up until when he tells me we shouldn't be friends anymore. My heart feels weighted down as I recall my best friend.

_It feels as though they've left me all over again. Despair clouds around me as I sit in the cab of my truck outside the little red house. We were meant to go hiking tomorrow; I had been planning on finding the meadow. But Jacob's words are so much like that fateful `You don't.. want me?` `No.` that I voluntarily resign myself to my bedroom, ready for the mist to take over again. Something crackles in my pocket as I sit down, and I take it out, curiously. It is a scrawled note that looks as though it was written in a hurry._

_**Bella, I'm sorry. So sorry. I'm not allowed to tell you.. I can't explain. But the worst part is I already did. Last year on the beach, at the bonfire, remember? I told you legends. You're a legend in your own right, Bells, figure it out. Jacob.**_

I snap out of it as Edward roars. Angela is shaking at my side, hands balled into fists.

"You promised me you'd be careful, Bella! And this is how you repay me? Spending time with WEREWOVES?" Edward looks as though he may phase in his own right soon. I absorb his anger, triple it, and send it right back at him to give him a taste of what's frying my mind right now.

"YOU promised ME that you'd never leave me!" I spit. "And look how that turned out!"

I plunge back into my memories. I know that this is Ben's favourite bit; this is confirmed by the fact that Ben's face is currently splitting in half via a grin.

_The phone rings, shocking me out of my stunned stupor. It's Angela, reminding me that I've promised to go with her and Ben to the movies in Port Angeles tonight. I assure her that I'll be there to pick her up in ten minutes and hurry out of the door. As my red truck pulls out of the drive at the pace of a snail loaded with bricks, Charlie pulls in. _

"_I'll be back later, Dad!" I call out of the window._

"_Have a good time, kiddo." Charlie replies, stepping out of his cruiser in his uniform, pulling his fishing rod from the back seats. "Love you."_

"_You too, Charlie."_

_I drive away._

I have to pause the show for a while to recollect myself. "That was the last time I saw my father," I announce as Angela rubs my back in a soothing gesture. "I'm only thankful that it was him smiling as he did what he did best."

"Bella.." Alice begins, but I shake my head at her.

_It's fairly dark as Angela, Ben and I drive out of Port Angeles. We're making our way down a quiet, country road, and Ben is babbling excitedly about the moves that one of the enemies made at a certain point in the battle. _

"_It was amazing, just like a vampire would be if you added a cape and fangs," he says, reliving the scene in his head. _

_I snort. Yeah. Cape and fangs. It seems someone else agrees with me; there is a loud bang on the roof of my truck, and Angela screams as I swerve uncontrollably from the road. _

"_Oh God, I'm sorry," I pant as we right ourselves. "I don't know –"_

_But I'm cut off as a pale woman with bright red hair, and bright red eyes jumps onto the hood._

"_Cape and fangs, boy? Oh, you have us so wrong."_

**AN** so we all know who it is. I'm gonna leave it there for tonight; I have a HUGE pile of homework just itching to be done.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note**: Chapter eight... thanks for all the reviews! The amount of favourite and review emails almost crashed my inbox :D

So, Victoria's just made Bella crash her truck.. what happens next?

I've still twisted a few events. And put in a few bad jokes. YAY FOR BAD JOKES!

Allons-y!

**WARNING** – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except ANOTHER REPLY FROM ANDY HURLEY AND A SHOUTOUT FROM ALEX GASKARTH ON TWITTER!

Twilight: SM.

Another reply from Andy Hurley and a shoutout from Alex Gaskarth on Twitter: BKIGB

"Victoria?" Edward hisses angrily, his stone hands balling up into fists.

"Victoria," I reply. "Redhead, James' mate.. you do remember James, don't you? You know, the crazy tracker who attacked me before you went off with your distractions? Yeah, Victoria. She came back for revenge after you left me there, unprotected.. for the most part. Stop interrupting the story, Edward, or Ben'll kill you."

_Victoria drags her sharp, pointed nails down the glass windscreen of my truck, and Angela screams as our intruder abruptly puts her marble hand straight through to grasp my throat._

"_Hello again, Bella," she smiles. Her voice is high and nasal. I expect a large pink bubble to pop out of her pink lips at any second. Surprisingly, I don't feel any fear as Victoria begins to tighten her grip. Death will bring a release. "This is for James. A mate for a mate. If I have to live without mine, Edward is going to have to live without his." Angela is screaming, and Ben is yelling as Victoria motions for two pale blurs to restrain them. Or something, I don't know. My vision is going blurry. "Goodbye, Bella." I stare into those ruby red eyes and hear Angela's screams falter as the eyes disappear and a sharp pain assaults my neck. My heart beat does not falter. Victoria notices. "You're not scared, are you?" I shake my head slowly, and sink gladly into the black pools of relief. _

"You gave up?" Rosalie asks, speaking for the first time.

I nod. "Yes. Anything to escape from the super massive black hole in my chest. I simply let it swallow me."

_My death is surprisingly quick. Strange, I'm expecting it to take longer. I hear howling in the distance – is it Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Hades, welcoming me to Hell? It obviously is, as the ice-cold hand leaves my throat, and my body is set aflame._

_I burn in the fires of Hell for an infinite amount of time. I lose track – I am obviously going to burn eternally, so there is no point keeping time. The fire devours my body, searing through my veins and culminating in my heart, where the pain is the most excruciating. Makes sense. The hole seems insignificant compared to the inferno in my chest. Suddenly, it is extinguished, and curiosity compels me to open my eyes and see what Hell looks like._

_The Cullens' house. _

_Obviously. _

Jasper is in a foetal position on the floor from the renewed pain of the change. Alice is hovering over him, unsure of what to do.

"Jazz?"

"I'm.. I'm fine, darlin'," he replies haltingly in his Southern drawl, panting as though he has just run a marathon in human form. "Just.. painful, that's all.."

"Sorry Jasper," I apologize with as much sincerity as I can muster.

Carlisle's eyes are shining with venom. "Bella.. we caused you so much pain.. you thought of our house as Hell?"

I smile wryly at him. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Bella!" Ben whines. He's never going to shut up until I get through the next chapter in my memoirs.

"_Brilliant," I mutter. Wait, my voice – it's like music. Like the rippling melody of – _

"_Bella?" a timid, harmonious voice inquires from my right. _

_I lift my head, but find myself on my feet in a defensive crouch in less than a second. There is a growl, and I see Ben Cheney dropped into a mimicking crouch infront of Angela at the other side of the blindingly white living room. Both Ben and Angela are sparkling in the light that's shining in through the glass windows. Sparkling? And their eyes, they're – Oh crap. We're not dead. We're not in Hell. We're -_

"_Bella, why are our eyes red? And sparkling? And -?"_

"_WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?" Ben roars, cutting across Angela, his crouch stooping as if he's about to launch himself at me._

"_Well.. um.." I'm shocked at the capacity of my mind. I can think of so many things now, all at one time. "You know how.. you were on about capes and fangs.."_

"_And that red-head said that I didn't know anything about them.." Ben's ruby eyes widened. "We're vampires? Fricking vampires?" The change has made him taller._

_I nod mutely, looking at my glittering arm and becoming ever more aware of the burning in my throat. _

"_Wow! I can't wait to tell Austin!" Ben's eyes light up with comic-fanboy-ism. _

"_Ben, you can't tell Austin," I tell him, but he fires up again._

"_Why the hell not, Bella? He's my best friend."_

"_Ben.. you'll drain him."_

"_Oh, for the love of anime - who the hell made you the boss around here anyway? How do you know so much?"_

_I spill._

"I'm proud of you, Bella," Carlisle smiles at me. I smile back.

_I gloss over the details of our first hunt. No-one really wants to know about how much blood we spilt down our clothes, or how we all went into raptures over the speed and clarity. (We did.)_

_Nor does anyone want to know how we spent most of that day racing eachother and trying to beat eachother in jumping contests. (We did.)_

_Or that some aspects of the revelations that I deal out to Ben and Angela were the reasons that Esme's living room was partially destroyed. (They were. Sorry, Esme.)_

_I skip to a point a few years later. We swim across the Atlantic ocean to Europe, in the hope that we could find the Volturi. From what I remember of them from what Edward had told me on my birthday, and the picture on Carlisle's study wall, we believe them to be our best hope. _

"You **willingly** swam to Europe to find those – those corrupt bastards?" Edward asks, sounding incredulous.

Angela screeches indignantly from beside me. Her years as an immortal have given her confidence, and a backbone, much as they have me. "Those `corrupt bastards`, as you so kindly put them, are our Uncles, Dickward!"

Emmett bursts out into bellowing guffaws, and Alice joins him. Even Rosalie laughs.

"Dickward?" Emmett chokes out. "Good one, Angela!"

Angela smiles briefly at him, but her furious gaze snaps straight back to Edward, whose confidence takes another blow. Ha.

Esme is frowning, but it is one of confusion, not disapproval. "What happened to Victoria, Bella?" she asks.

"Oh, sorry, did I miss that bit out?" I purse my lips. "The wolves took care of her and the cronies she had with her. That was the howling I heard."

"How do you know?" Jasper asks curiously.

"Because Jake was still there when Angela woke up," Ben answers. "And we kept in touch with the pack until we left Forks. Or rather, they kept in touch with us, seeing as we couldn't exactly go out much."

"But to answer that `question`, Edward, yes we willingly swam to Europe to find the Volturi. Infact, we spent a few decades with them." I continue. "Angela and Ben have spent more time with them than me though. I preferred to travel a bit more."

"Why did you two stay?" Alice asks inquisitively.

"To develop my power a bit more," Angela replies, smugly. Ben hugs her waist from behind; Angela relaxes into his chest as he kisses her neck lovingly. I know that this is one of the parts he definitely loves about his change – being tall enough to kiss her properly.

"Ooh, what is it?" Alice is in pixie mode again, but a vision racks her. Tugging at my mind. "OH MY GOSH! I'm so **jealous!" **she whines, actually stamping her foot. Wow. I thought us girls only did that on corny TV shows.

"What?" Emmett grumbles, obviously feeling left out, and Ben lets go of Angela, who steps forward.

Jasper grins as he feels the love and kindness radiating from my best friend, who has her eyes closed, concentrating.

And then Angela is flying.

**AN** yeah, I know. But I just thought, Angela seems so kind and genuine, that she should be able to channel it into something. Kindness, love and being genuine must make everything so _light_, don't you think? :D

Ok so it's cheesy. But hey. My way or the highway.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note**: Chapter nine... thanks for all the reviews!

Angela's just revealed her power, making a certain little pixie very jealous.

I'm glad to know that people don't think it's cheesy (I still do haha)

Allons-y!

**WARNING** – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except A FOURTH REPLY FROM ANDY HURLEY ON TWITTER! And tickets for gigs every month until April

Twilight: SM.

A fourth reply from Andy Hurley on Twitter and tickets for gigs: BKIGB

Angela is swooping around my living room, doing a loop-the-loop over Ben's head playfully; he jumps, trying to catch her, but Angela is too cunning and rolls, avoiding his hands by inches. Ben skids to a halt just before the Cullens.

Carlisle looks fascinated, a look of pure joy on his face as his eyes follow my friend's progress around my ceiling. Esme is smiling too, although her hands fly to her dead heart every so often, whenever Angela flies too close to the fire or to a wall – not that the latter would hurt us. We'd just hurt _it_. Alice is screaming. As in, literally screaming. She's bouncing up and down as if on an invisible trampoline, and it's obvious that she's attempting to flap her arms and join Angela in the air, even if she's trying to be subtle about it. Besides, Angela doesn't flap her arms. She just... soars, like an eagle in the sky. With just as much grace – and just as much of a predator instinct.

Jasper is looking drugged from the love that Angela is letting off. I don't blame him. There is an aspect of my power that allows me to sort of `turn down` the powers that I've collected. Honestly, before I learnt that, I had a 24/7 headache. And as a vampire... Well, I can't exactly take any painkillers, can I?

Emmett looks extremely unhappy. I bet he's wishing that he could fly too. I've often felt sorry for Emmett and Rose. The only Cullen kids without powers. Of course, Rosalie has her beauty, and Emmett has his bear-like strength, but they don't have anything like their siblings' powers. Emmett seems to know what I am thinking as he looks over to me.

"S'ok, Bella. I'd be too big to fly, anyway." He grins suddenly. "But I could still beat you in a –"

He catches sight of Edward's murderous expression, eyes black, lips curling back over his teeth, and stops, although his thoughts carry on. "–_wrestling match._"

Rosalie looks dreamy as she watches Angela's flight. In her mind, she is flying too, amongst fluffy white clouds in a blue sky. This dream-Rosalie has feathery white wings, and she is looking down at a back garden of a house. In the garden are small children with black curly hair and dimples, a young girl with long blonde hair. The dream-Rosalie flies onwards towards a large cloud, alighting in dream-Emmett's arms. The real Rosalie's eyes well up with tears that she can't shed, and real Emmett takes her into his embrace.

Edward looks indifferent to Angela's power. He still looks faintly vicious from Emmett's expressed desire to play-fight with me. Still as over-protective as ever.

Ben is staring at his wife with such utter love and devotion that it makes my stomach hurt – no mean feat for a vampire. When I look at Ben and Angela, I see everything that I wish I could have had with Edward. Once upon a time.

Angela pauses in her loop-the-loop, hanging upside-down in thin air. Of course, we have no blood, so we can stay upside down for quite a long time. Literal bats.

"Join me, Bella?"

I shake my head, slowly.

"Aww, Bella!" Alice whines, her bottom lip protruding. "Why not? You two would make such a good picture, framed by the beams, and – Oh, just get up there with Angela, will you?"

Again, I shake my head. "I can't."

Carlisle frowns. "Why not? I'd have thought that you would be able to, as an absorber."

"Because, as Jasper and Edward will be able to tell you, Angela's gift works off love, and happiness. Seeing as I don't have much of either of those, I can't keep airborne for longer than a few seconds."

Angela's happiness begins to fade; she always saddens when I say that. I never mean to make her upset. But she's too kind and unselfish to keep happy when those she cares about aren't. She floats slowly down from my ceiling, flipping the right way up in time to hug me.

Esme rushes forwards from the relative safety of Carlisle to hug me too. She's fierce in her feelings of mingling love and guilt, and her thoughts are much the same.

"_Bella, I'm so sorry... if we'd have known... not happy! Not loved! Not able to love... oh, my poor, poor daughter..."_

Esme thinks of me as a daughter? I'm touched. Infact, the hole in my chest is rippling again as my stone lip trembles. Then I'm dry sobbing into my lost mother's shoulder.

Angela freezes momentarily. Then she gently removes her arms from around my shaking frame, and I lose contact. "Bella's houses are always laid out the same. Why don't Ben and I give you a tour?"

Esme gently moves me to the couch as the sounds of eight pairs of feet trudge away towards the first floor. I curl my legs up underneath me and lean into her shoulder as I suffer the uncomfortable feeling of crying as a vampire. My throat hitches, trying to dredge up sobs. Esme's arms are still around me, her position mirroring mine.

Footsteps track back across the landing, heading for the other side of the house. Edward is grumbling.

"She's upset. She's crying. She feels unloved. Wh-"

"That, Dickward, was the first time I've seen Bella cry in one hundred and fifty years," Angela snaps. "Please shut up and let her get it out."

"One hundred.. One hundred and fifty years ago?"

Ben steps in for Angela. "Touché, Dickward. Touché."

"One hundred and fifty years ago?" Esme echoes her `prodigal` son, turning her doe-like golden eyes into me.

I swallow the venom pooling in my mouth and nod. "Yeah. I decided that it would have to be a stronger mind for the stronger body. No point being a vampire with all the qualities of a weak human."

Esme nods slowly. "I think I see. Oh, Bella.."

She trails off, sensing that I'm better in silence than I am admitting my emotions. That little bit of Charlie I've kept with me.

Esme's curiosity soon gets the better of her, however, and she pipes up again around ten minutes later. The tour of the house is now on the final floor.

"So Bella.. Forgive me for asking.. I just.." she trails off.

"It's ok, Esme," I tell her reassuringly, although mentally preparing myself.

"I completely understand if you don't want to answer. I don't even know why –"

"Esme, please. Ask me. I'll do my best to answer."

Esme studies the floorboards that layer the Washington forest floor and provide flooring for my house.

"I was wondering.. When you said you had no love.. Whether you meant.."

I groan internally as a growl and a smack are heard from the tour party. However, I told Esme that I'd do my best to answer, and so I will.

"Um.. There was this one guy.. I met him in Volterra."

A snarl from upstairs.

"His name was Mat. I never did find out his last name, but.." I sigh. "He was tall, with scruffy black hair that stood out around his head like an eerie halo – I used to call him my guardian angel. He was perhaps twenty when he was turned; he told me that he was turned in the late 1500s, in England. He was in the crowd at the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in 1587." I smile. "He always used to like boasting that to people."

Esme beams as I smile, although there is a slight hint of sadness in her eyes.

"He was quite a powerful vampire.. I think that's why Aro had him in the guard. He had the ability to change his appearance at will."

"That is quite some gift," Esme agrees with me, sitting up a little straighter on the couch.

"Mat was the glue that fixed me after I realised that the change had still left me broken inside. He was my best friend, my confidant. I will admit that we had romantic connections. But one day, perhaps a century ago, Aro called upon him to fight with the rest of the guard in a major battle in the Far East. He.. He didn't return."

"Oh, Bella, I'm sorry.." Esme looks aghast as I wrap my arms around my chest to try and close the gaping hole near my unbeating heart.

The tour group arrives back downstairs, and Edward is fuming. I can't begin to imagine why..

**AN** Ok, rubbish chapter there haha.. Any questions you want answering in the next one?


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: Chapter ten... thanks for all the new faves and subscriptions! It really means a lot to me right now.

So last chapter, Bella and Esme had a little chat, and it was revealed that Bella moved on with her life romantically, without Edward (Shock, horror, gasp).

Whatever will his reaction be?

WARNING – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except a wristband and band tee from the Paramore gig I went to last night. IT WAS AMAZING.

Twilight: SM.

Wristband and band tee from the Paramore gig I went to last night: BKIGB

Edward looks as though steam would come out of his stone ears, if that were possible. His fists are clenched, but he is trembling. Nobody needs Jasper's gift to work out that he's about to re-enact the Vesuvius disaster.

"What do you mean, there were _romantic connections_?" he hisses, taking a step towards me. I rise, only to drop into a defensive crouch.

"I mean that there were _romantic connections,_ Edward. Links of love. I had feelings for him, he had feelings for me. I'm sure you know such ties, Edward, I'm sure you have them to your distractions."

Edward slips into a crouch too, eyes turning black. "How could you have romantic ties to someone else, Bella?" he snarls. "You _love_ me!"

"I used to love you, Edward," I tell him, straightening up. "Until you broke my heart and scattered the pieces around on the muddy forest floor. Then I decided that I was disillusioned and that I should move on. Tell me, Edward, did you ever love me?"

*

Aro POV

I may be many things. Powerful. A source of fear for those of our kind, and those of others. But I am not stupid. I know what will happen when Bella and the Cheneys meet up with the Cullens.

And I can't let it happen.

I call a council with my brothers, and the most elite of the guard. I class the most elite as the most formidable, the most fear-mongering, the most useful. Jane and Alec. Demetri. Felix. Chelsea. The usual ones.

The stone wall of our castle show their sandiness as Caius rubs a thumb against it irritably. A window near the top of the tower lets the shimmering orange rays of the early morning sun dance across our bodies. I hold up a hand and curiously watch it sparkle. It's strange how although I have been in this life for thousands of years, I still find the different patterns to be fascinating.

"Can we bring this meeting to order, Aro?" Caius asks impatiently, now rapping his fingers on his throne. There are dents in those exact same positions from where he has been doing that for millennia. I told him to stop it, but sometimes he's a stubborn child – vampire.

"Of course," I answer him with that well-practised silky voice of mine. "I've called a meeting about the Cullens."

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Caius roll his crimson eyes. At the other side of my peripheral vision, I can see that Marcus hasn't yet expressed any emotion. Come to think of it, I don't think he's expressed any emotion since his initial outburst of grief after his wife Didyme _mysteriously_ died. But this is no time for reminiscing. Or concern.

"It has come to my attention that the Cullens are in the same area of North America as our _dear_ friends, Bella, Ben and Angela." Caius sits up from his lounging position, and I conceal my smug grin. _I knew that would get him interested_. "We all know what will happen."

Jane's evil eyes light up. Anything to get back at Bella. Jane never liked her because I liked Bella more than her. Too much more for Jane.

"They will unite as one large coven.. and with so many gifted vampires, they pose a direct threat to our safety. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Master." The simultaneous droning of my guard ripples throughout the room.

Marcus shows signs of life – well, as much as can be shown from one of our kind, at least. "Aro, does this have to be our only option? Carlisle Cullen is our friend."

Always the soft one.

"Do friends of the Volturi build large, gifted covens?" I question him, backed up by a grumble amongst my guard. Always loyal, always ready.

"You know Carlisle as well as I, better even," I sigh as Marcus persists with his ridiculous reasoning. "Is he the type to come to violence?"

"You tell me, brother," I tell him. "He always has had strange thoughts and mannerisms. Take his diet, for example."

"If you'll remember, Aro," Caius cuts in acerbically. "His diet is shared by our dear Bella." Jane stands up a little straighter. "How are we to know that she wasn't in alliance with the Cullens from the beginning?"

"We don't," I reply simply. "We have to remind her of her allegiances."

I stand up to survey the room. I could have done this sitting down, what with my perfect vision and sense of smell, but standing asserts my power over the underlings.

"Jane, I think, you will go, along with your brother." I smile at her as her smile widens, showing her sharpened teeth. "Felix, Chelsea, I think will be essential for reminding our young friends. Demetri, although your skills in tracking are not needed, your fighting skills may be." The olive-skinned vampire nods, smirking, and goes to stand next to his equally self-satisfied partner-in-crime, Felix, who is unconsciously flexing his muscles.

"Aro!" Marcus pleads again. "You know the feelings I saw towards to Cullens from Bella! You saw the images in the minds of her friends!"

"I know," I answer him, scouting out the fighters in the courtyard. "But we cannot take chances."

"I think it would be best if we went too," Caius notes. "Just for emphasis."

I smirk as I follow his train of thought. "Of course, dear brother." I motion to one of the cloaked guards standing by the doors. "Go fetch the fighters currently training up here. Now."

"Yes, master." The guard disappears through the door as Heidi enters our room.

"Ah, how lovely. Dinner."

*

Bella POV

Edward draws himself up. "Yes! Of course I _loved_ you Bella. I still do!"

But his voice is uncertain, and Jasper knows as well as I know that he's lying.

"You don't," I tell him bluntly.

"Preposterous –"

"Edward, you never did. You loved the control that you had over me, that was all."

"Bella –"

But he falters as Alice and I gasp in unison. My sight fogs and I see the so-called `dining room` in Volterra. Aro is giving a speech, about –

That backstabbing bastard.

I replay the image in my head, projecting it for everyone to see. Angela gasps.

"But Aro – he would never – "

Ben's eyes are hard and black as onyx. "It looks like he did, Ange. It looks like he did."

**AN** ok, shortest chapter yet. Sorry about that guys. Life's a bit hectic right now. It's also a really really fast chapter too. Sorry again. But I want to move on from this, we've been in the same evening for years now.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note**: Chapter eleven... sorry for the break in updates, RL got in the way!

Hope everyone had a good Christmas, and Happy New Decade!

The Volturi are coming, the Volturi are coming...

WARNING – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except a sudden urge to murder some of my relatives

Twilight: SM.

Sudden urge to murder relatives : BKIGB

I'm pacing. The Cullens left around an hour ago to `circle the wagons` as Jasper put it. I think the poor guy was relieved to get out of my house to be honest. The emotions weren't exactly nice to bear. Angela is sitting on my – our - sectional couch, knees pulled up to her chin. Ben has his arms around her, his eyes still black. It is obvious that both of them are hurt by Aro's actions, and to a certain extent, so am I. I know that Aro isn't someone to trust with regards to power, but he had been an Uncle figure to the three of us when we showed up on his doorstep, and we've always been welcome in Volterra.

Until now, I guess.

If Angela's power came with added wings, they would be drooping, the feathers wilting. The distress is rolling off her in waves, and I am extremely thankful for my capability to `shut off` my powers.

.

**?POV**

Aro has called us up to the main room – I don't know why. I was training the young fighters, the cream of the crop, the ones that survived Caius' harsh training regime. It is just in time for dinner – Heidi has just returned – and my red eyes lock onto a woman at the back. She has flowing red hair, and bright green eyes, the colour of grass. These eyes are wide with terror, and she is attempting to back towards the door. Her pulse is racing, calling to me like a bell, or a sign saying `Drink me`. She smells so appetising..

"_Mine!_" I hiss, using my strength to push me forwards, my razor sharp teeth latching onto her jugular. I sigh contentedly as the rich crimson liquid rushes down my throat, sating my hunger – for now.

The other members of the guard, and the soldiers who have accompanied me up, make meals out of the victimised tourists and accompany me up the marble steps to where the brothers sit enthroned. I hate this regime. It's not my way of life, and I hate being a thrall to Aro and his brothers. In my peripheral vision, I see Chelsea turn her iron gaze on me, and my will weakens. I wonder why the thoughts were in my head in the first place, before internally cursing the guard.

Aro turns to face us. "You have been called up here," he drawls, "because you have a job to do."

Chelsea tugs at my inner-self once again. My mind fogs, and it seems that I am only capable of listening to my master, to whom I am, of course, unswervingly loyal. Some of the other unwilling guards are whipped into submission by the blonde vampire's gift, and their nervous fidgeting stops.

"It has come to the attention of the Volturi that there is a coven in America with the means to overcome us if we do not stamp them out now." Aro smiles around at us all, reminiscent of a lion surveying his pride in the knowledge that he has full control. "What makes this matter even more unsettling is that their leader is an old friend of the Volturi. His allegiances are waning. Three more have joined his already-unnaturally large coven, taking their numbers to ten. The _Cullens_ must be eliminated."

Cullens.. now where have I heard _that_ term before? They sound familiar. But whoever they are, they must be eliminated. It is Aro's will, and Aro's will must be done, on Earth as it is... well, everywhere, really. Aro's will must be done.

Right now, Aro is organising use into groups. I am paired with one of the weaker fighters in my group – although Josh is good, he's not as good as me – and we are then grouped with Jane and Alec. I tower over Jane, relishing in this height difference. She glares at me, and I quickly stop relishing. She may like my English accent, but that doesn't mean that she'll take my attitude.

"I give you two hours to plan your strategies. I have already given certain members of your groups the plans that my brothers and I will be following, and I intend for your plans to correspond accordingly. You must report to me before setting off, and I want you all on your way by tomorrow at dawn. No excuses. Any vampire who fails to correspond will face my wrath. Go."

-

**BPOV (The first bit will be flashback. I'll tell you when it ends)**

_*Flashback*_

_Mat turned from the tower window, his dark hair blowing in the breeze. I kept my windows open at all times. I liked to think that it helped cleanse the air in my room, even though it would make no physical difference to me._

"_So, you drink the blood of animals, huh? I'd like to try it sometime."_

_I laughed. "You've known I drink animal blood for years, Mat. But seriously, you want to come hunting with me?"_

"_Yeah.. I've never really liked the idea of killing humans that much, and I'm getting a little tired of the red-eyed look." He grinned suddenly, and his straight, gleaming white teeth flashed. _

"_I was going to go later with Angela and Ben.. care to join then?"_

"_Yeah, why not?" He sat down next to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. "Why later? What was going to fill up your time in-between?" His grin became sly, and cheeky._

_If I was human, I would have blushed. "I was rather looking forward to spending some time with this vampire, one who means rather a lot to me."_

"_What's he like, this vampire of yours?"_

" _He has charm and wit, and he knows how to cheer me up – and he's incredibly good looking, so it couldn't be you." I stuck my tongue out at him and he growled playfully, launching himself at me to tackle me to the bed. Both of us were laughing, and he snuggled down into my side. I tugged my hands through his spiky black hair and left them draped around his shoulders. "I love this vampire very much."_

_His eyes softened, and his grin stretched even wider. "You love him?"_

"_With all my unbeating heart." _

_He leant forwards and gently introduced his lips to mine. "Well, Bells, I love you too."_

"_That's nice to know," I whispered, turning my eyes away from his red ones and hugging him closer. His arms wrapped around me, and I felt safe for the first time in decades. I felt loved._

_Our robes were draped over a chair, and it transpired that Mat was wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt underneath a leather waistcoat, paired with black skinny jeans. It looked effortlessly sexy. He _was _effortlessly sexy. It wasn't like HIM, who obviously preened himself into perfection each morning in order to comply with his ego. Mat was himself, impure and undeniable. _

_I wasn't sure how long we lay there, entwined in each other's arms, but soon enough, Angela's footsteps whispered outside the door, and she knocked a second later._

"_You ready?"_

_*End FB*_

"Bella? You ready?" I snap reluctantly out of my day dream as Angela snaps her fingers infront of my face. I quickly realise that my class has finished, and that Nikki is giving me a strange look from the door, out of which everybody else has presumably left. I glare back, and she scurries from the room like a frightened mouse.

"Oh yeah, sorry.." I mumble, standing and sweeping my things from the desk in the same, swift movement. Alice bounces up behind Angela, whose golden eyes flicker to the side in acknowledgment. It is Tuesday, and we have all returned to school, earning strange looks from our fellow students. _Yes, we're very, very beautiful, get over it. We could also rip your heads off if we so wished. So stop staring. _

"Are you ok, Bella?" Alice asks in concern. "You kinda phased out for the lesson."

"Yeah, well the teachers here know better than to doubt my abilities, and there are better things to think about than something I've learnt many times over."

"Fair point," Alice replied, but Angela's face softens. She has seen straight through my attempt to be casual, and she gives me a sympathetic look, squeezing my shoulder.

It's going to be a long eternity.

**AN: **sorry for the lame-ness of this chapter.. I hope the next one will be vaguely better.


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note**: Chapter twelve. This one is for kelleygirl who brightened up my day a whole lot with her reviews, shared opinions and well thought out logic.

Just a warning, this bit is slightly out of canon with New Moon...

Also, there is a phone conversation in this chapter, I've indented and italicised to make it easier to read.

WARNING – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except a HUGE French dictionary 3

Twilight: SM.

HUGE French Dictionary: BKIGB

I drive the three of us home from school that night, and I can feel (quite literally) that we are all relieved to be rid of the Cullens for the night. Not that it was nice to see most of them, but seriously. Too much time with Alice after decades and decades apart plays havoc with your mind.

Angela has been quiet all day, despite Ben's attempts to cheer her up. I would use one of my new-found powers to cheat, rather than asking – I've always been uncomfortable with directly asking people what's wrong – but I know that the Cullen `kids` used to get annoyed with Edward when he did it without their permission – which, come to think of it, was most of the time. Nosy bastard. I also remember him getting pissed off with them if he didn't like what he found. Moral of that: don't invade other people's privacy in the first place.

Luckily for me, I don't have to ask Angela, or read her mind, because she speaks up first.

"Bella?"

I walk – well, I suppose `zoom` is a more appropriate word – over to the sectional couch, and sit on Angela's other side; her shoulders are now crowned by both mine and Ben's arms. "What's up?"

"I was just wondering... I feel kinda bad about spending so long away and not keeping too much contact – I was just wondering..."

"Spit it out, Ange."

"I was wondering if you'd spoken to... um... the Pack?"

I sigh, pulling my knees up to my chin as a feeling like ice floods my useless veins. To be honest, I've been putting it off.

"Um... not yet. I've kind of... been working up to it, I guess."

I know they know what I mean. All the ones we knew will be dead. The new members – if indeed, there are any, although with this many vampires in the area, it won't be long – may not know us, may not give us a chance to explain ourselves. You know what they say about young werewolves – shape shifters. You just had to look at poor Emily. I hope she and Sam were happy.

"Would you mind... would you mind if we did it sooner rather than later? It'd put my mind at rest." Ben nods as he agrees with his mate.

I think about it. With my mind, it doesn't take very long because I can think of so many things at once, which is quite an advantage. It would be good to establish positions with the Pack. It would be good to settle things with my old best friend, even if he isn't around anymore.

The phone rings, and Ben rises to answer it.

"Hello?"

"_Ben? Ben, is that you?" _Crap. It's Alice – and she sounds worried.

"Who else -?"

"_Your futures just went blank! All of your futures! I couldn't see a thing! Are you ok?" _Oh, NOW she's looking for our futures. How very considerate of her.

"We're fine –"Ben begins, but I cut across him as my vision goes red.

"We're perfectly alright, Alice. Thankyou for looking for our futures now, we REALLY appreciate it."

"_Bella, please don't start. You know he told me not to –"_

"Alice, you have a mind of your own. You could have used it. Our futures are perfectly fine –"I resist the urge to add `for now` "-and we don't need you worrying. We've been perfectly fine for the past century and a half."

"_Sor-rry, Bella," Alice_ sounds haughty. "_Just thought you might have been eaten by the Volturi or something. Never mind. I –"_

But I don't wait. The phone soars from Ben's hand and slams itself back down on the dock.

"We," I snarl through clenched teeth. "Are going to see the wolves."

Ben punches the air, whooping as though he's gained a hard achievement on a game. "Can we hunt along the way, Bella? I think it might make it easier."

"Good idea," I concede, and steal a line from one of my old favourite shows. It was English, but they showed it in America too, and I really enjoyed it back in the day. "Allons-y!"

.

The tree sprouts from the ground at an unnatural rate, as though there is a string attached to the top-most branches that is being yanked upwards by an invisible hand. It is a fairly large tree, for a mass grave. As I create it, I get a vision of the future, and wish I could shudder away. Let's just say, the bark of this tree will soon be marred by a heart, which contains the words `Mick Newton 4 Nikki Mallory. ` Ack.

I tell Angela and Ben, who laugh as we run ever closer to the border. I can tell that we're getting close; the smell becomes more animalistic. Hmm. Maybe the wolves are still around then. My suspicions are confirmed as we skid to a halt at the line. Panting breaths and the sound of paws hitting the earth come ever closer, and we are assaulted with a revolting smell.

A large, canine face peers out at us from the green undergrowth. The fur is sandy, and strangely familiar. The mouth opens, and a lolling tongue falls out in doggy laughter, before the wolf disappears.

Seth Clearwater returns in human form.

"Seth!?"

"The man, the wolf, the legend," he grins, and launches himself across the boundary line to hug us all in one go to his enormous, warm chest. Seth had never been one to shy away from us, given our nature.

"How – why – I mean, no offense man, but -?" Ben stutters, trying to form our unified thoughts.

"Why am I still alive?" Seth asks bluntly, smile faltering slightly.

"Well, um... yeah, I guess... not that it's not good to see you, I mean it's fricking fantastic, but –"

"I never imprinted," Seth answers simply. "I never fancied the idea of living out a life alone, so I stuck around, fighting off strange vampires and protecting my tribe." He flexes his impressive muscles like a comic book hero, and Angela giggles uncertainly.

"Oh, Seth..." I feel sorry beyond words for our old friend. If anyone deserves an imprint, it's Seth.

"Hey, I'm over it. I've had a long time to think it through," he reassures us, but his feelings betray him. Despair and a great sadness fill him to the brim, and I hug him again. "So, how've you been?"

Angela and Ben fill him in on their lives, as I listen only half heartedly, feeling a kind of connection with Seth, the lone wolf. Watching all of his friends find love, grow up, get married.

"So, how's my sister been doing, then?" Seth asks me, giving me a start.

"Sister?"

"Didn't you know?" he asks, a frown furrowing his forehead. "My mom married your dad!"

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," Seth smiles. "He um... he died of cancer a couple of years afterwards though."

"Did he... did he suffer?"

Seth smiles again. "No. He didn't suffer, Bells. Billy, Jake and Mom were with him in hospital. He died in his sleep."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "That's... that's good, I guess."

Angela comes up silently behind me, a hand on my shoulder, and I nod in thanks.

"Mom died a year later," Seth says sadly. "Plane crash over Europe. They never found the body. Leah was with her."

"Oh, Seth... I'm so, so sorry!"

Seth shrugged. "Leah was fine. Werewolf, you know? But she ended up getting separated from Mom, so she couldn't help with the search. She came back here and imprinted on a guy from Forks. Austin, I think his name was?"

"AUSTIN?" Ben screams, leaping to his feet, and Seth flinches. "Whoops, sorry."

"Yeah, Austin. I thought you'd've known him – they named their first born Ben. Benjamin Harry."

"I guess Leah wasn't sterile after all then," I note, and Seth nods.

"Ben got married to Sam and Emily's little girl. Their great grandson still lives in La Push." He sighs. "I'm expecting him to phase soon, what with you back here."

I mirror his sigh. "Yeah, Seth... we have something to tell you."

**AN: **Yes, I know Seth and Leah entered the pack in Eclipse – that's why I warned you about the change from canon. But it's for good reason! And I love Seth


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note**: Chapter thirteen.

Yeah, the last chapter was a kind of Fail On An Epic Scale.

Don't expect this one to be much better.

I know I may be hated for part of it, but hey.

I have plans.

WARNING – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except a bug which I'm hoping isn't going to prevent me from going to a gig tomorrow night (All Time Low, The Blackout and Young Guns)

Twilight: SM.

bug: BKIGB

Seth's face grows darker and darker with each passing minute as we confess to the danger that we have put the town in just by being here.

"Well," he mutters bleakly. "I guess we are going to have a few new wolves after all."

Ben looks guilty. "I'm sorry, Seth."

"Hey, no problem," Seth tries to smile. "Few new puppy pals to hang around with, watch imprint, grow old and die. No problem _at all_."

I put a consoling hand on his hot-as-fire shoulder, trying to imitate Jasper at his consoling best, and it seems to work. At least, I hope it does.

Seth straightens up. "So, Bella. Who are all these other scents I can smell all over you guys?"

He is in a mode that is reminiscent of Sam when he went all Alpha. I guess that in absence of Sam and Jacob, Seth is the next logical choice to be Alpha. His business-like tone is that of a chief needing to protect his tribe, and this is exactly what he is.

"Well, um." I cluck my tongue inside my mouth repeatedly, as I think of a way to break the news to our old friend. "There isn't really a nice or easy way to put this, Seth."

His eyebrow shoots up like the tree I caused to grow over the carcass of my last meal.

"A few days after I settled in at my new house, Angela and Ben joined me back here. Unfortunately, on that same day, a house further down the road from us became re-occupied as well.."

Seth trembles, and the three of us step backwards a few paces. His teeth grind together, his eyes squeezing shut, as he tries to regain his composure. "The Cullens?" he asks, in a deceptively calm tone.

"The Cullens," I sigh, gaze falling to inspect the grains of dirt that are still swirling around our feet from our movements.

Seth's head cocks to the side, as though listening, and we follow suit.

Perhaps two miles away, there is a sound of people rushing through the forest at an almost-impossible speed. Vampires. The wind carries the scents towards us.

"Speak of the devils, and they shall appear," Angela mutters, face falling. I know how happy she was to see Seth, who phases, his control finally lost as the Cullens move closer.

The first onto the scene is Alice, quickly followed by Jasper, who, upon seeing the giant wolf in our midst, throws himself infront of his mate in a defensive crouch, growling. Seth launches forward as far as he dares, fur bristling. I grab hold of his fur at the scruff, trying to send calming waves towards him.

"Seth, calm down."

"Bella, what are you –" Edward's furious words falter at the look he receives.

"Cullens, this is Seth. Seth Clearwater, the Cullens. Carlisle and Esme, Emmett and Rosalie, Alice and Jasper, and.."

Seth rushes back into the bushes and returns as modestly as he can. "He needs no introduction, Bells." He hasn't yet looked at Edward, instead glaring at the rest of them. The feelings coming off him are strange. He is confused by a tugging in his mind, similar to the one I feel when I absorb a power – but not quite..

**Seth POV**

It's awesome to see them again, after so long. I was beginning to think I was going crazy, y'know. Like they'd never existed, and I was living out my life because of – well, for nothing, I guess. Looks like I'm gonna get some action though, take out some bloodsuckers..

The Cullens, however..

Bella might have forgiven them – well, maybe not entirely _all_ of them, by the way she's looking right now – but it's going to take a hell of a long time for me to think of them in PG-rated thoughts again.

There is a flash of bronze hair in my peripheral vision. Very nice bronze hair, I must admit – no. No, Seth, he's The Bastard. As in, THE Bastard. THE Bastard Who Ruined Bella's Human Life And Parts Of Her Vampire One Too. With Capitals.

I look up to try and address the leader – Doctor Cullen – civilly now that I'm in human form, but He – damn him – stepped infront of Carlisle, trying to reason with him.

Holy cow. He has a rather nice –

Seth, NO.

It is though there are golden, shimmering ties linking me with Him. As though His bronze hair is rippling out in extended streams behind Him, needing me to cling onto them and never let go.

Damn, He can read minds.

He spins round with a puzzled expression, and that seals my fate – along with the strength of the golden threads. He's absolutely fucking gorgeous.

_And he's mine._

**Bella POV**

Seth is staring at Edward as though the latter is Ambrosia. He seems to have discarded the notion of Edward's identity, who he is, what he's done, _why _Seth is supposed to hate him.

Edward is staring right back at him with the same expression on his face.

Oh no. Oh God, no.

Emmett turns to Jasper. "Pay up."

.

I'm running. Running far, far away from that scene, that scene where Carlisle has his arms round a shocked Esme, from where Emmett is spinning Rosalie round in a jubilant celebration, from where Alice is comforting Jasper, from where Angela and Ben are laughing in each other's embrace, and from where Seth and Edward –

Well, at least Seth's finally imprinted. He'll never be alone.

Not like me.

I find a rock, and sit down. Not that I need to sit, but it's a habit remaining from my human days. I wrap my arms around my knees and draw them to my chest.

I drown myself in my memories. It's the only way.

**F/back**

Mat and I sit in bed; he'd just made a stupid joke, and I regarded him with an eyebrow raised, trying not to laugh. I swatted him playfully around the head, and he pretended to shield his hair. "You're strange."

"Yep."

"But I love you."

"Yep."

"Are you going to say anything else?"

"Nope."

"Alright."

"Yep." He pretended to shield his face again, laughing as I tackled him to the bed.

I gazed down at the man underneath me, smiling at his playful pout, the way his hair was curling softly around his face, and his warm, now topaz eyes that I always lost myself in. I smiled at the complete safety and wholeness that I felt whenever he held me like this. I smiled at the impossible warmth of love that I always felt swell within me at the very mention of him, at the very hint of his presence. I lowered my head and nestled into his neck for the feel of his warm skin against mine, his soft hair against my face, and inhaled deeply, his unmistakeable musky scent calming me further and lulling me into complete bliss. I never wanted to leave.

"That could be arranged," he murmured, twisting his head to kiss my neck. "We just don't have to move from this spot. Ever."

I dug my feet in-between his legs, linking them around his ankle. "Ever."

"Ever, ever, ever."

"Ever, ever, ever's a long time. How do you propose to keep me here?"

He sighed. "And there was me thinking you wanted to stay here forever."

"I do.. I was just thinking.. if I really wanted to go.." I edged off him and onto the bed. "And you really wanted me to stay.." he sat up as I pushed myself up from the bed to walk slowly around to the foot, and then towards the door. "How would you keep me here?"

Before I'd even touched the door handle, however, there were warm, heavily toned arms around my waist, pulling me backwards and back onto the bed. There was a faint rumbling in Mat's chest, as though he were growling, and I thought I heard him hiss "mine!" in my ear. Before I knew it, I was lying spread-eagled on the pillows, Mat kneeling over me, limbs strategically placed to trap me there.

"I intend to keep you here like this." I raised my arm to stroke his face, but he swatted it back down. I tried the same with my other hand, but was again foiled. "You're not going anywhere," he smirked, looking self-satisfied. I tried again, alternating my movements in quick succession, but failed epically every time; in the end we both ended up swatting half-heartedly at eachother, laughing uncontrollably. I eyed him speculatively, and then raised both arms simultaneously to try and wriggle out; he countered me with both of his arms, and his eyes widened as he realised his mistake, and toppled over on top of me.

**End f/back**

I feel my face begin to crumple, and I fall to my knees on the grass, sobbing.

**AN** I'm going to go and hide in my war bunker now. 'Till next time. *Salutes*


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's Note**: Chapter fourteen.

Yeah, the last chapter was a kind of Fail On An Epic Scale.

Don't expect this one to be much better.

DON'T GET THE WRONG IDEA ABOUT THIS CHAPTER!!!!!!!! THIS IS NOT Bx (YOU'LL SEE)!

I know I may be hated for part of it, but hey.

I have plans for our girl.

WARNING – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except tickets from the K! Tour and Cobra Starship gigs. Fangs Up!

Twilight: SM.

(I don't own Friends either. (It gets very lonely))

tickets: BKIGB

I know that I won't be alone for long. What with Alice's power, there's sure to be someone with me soon, an arm across my shaking, stone back, and a hand trying to smooth out my crumpled face. So I'm surprised, therefore, when an animalistic smell drifts into my awareness. And it doesn't smell like dinner.

It's a surprisingly familiar smell, which brings back faint memories of sunlit garages and motor oil. Of warm sodas and mud in my nails. Of arguing about ages, and the exhilarating feel of the wind in my hair as I race along the coastal paths on a motorbike. I stiffen as a warm voice intrudes on my presence.

"Bells."

I keep my eyes trained on the ground, studying a crumpled blade of grass that's been crushed beneath my feet. It can't be. He's dead. He's got to be. He imprinted, had a family, and died. He's buried on James Island with the other tribal chiefs.

"I'm not dead, Bella."

I blink my eyes hard in preparation, and look up, opening my eyes.

Jacob Black stands in all his glory, his long hair stirring in the slightly breeze. He is topless, a pair of old cut-offs hanging low on his waist. He doesn't look a day older than when I last saw him.

"Jake?"

"It's me." I get to my feet, startling him with my speed. "Woah... I guess I need to get used to that again!" he flashes my grin at me, holding out his arms. He doesn't have to ask twice, and in an eight of a second, I am hugging my old friend.

"Jake... Jake, Jake, Jake... JAKE!"

"Ah... ow... I still have to breathe, you know, Bells... not all of us can be indestructible and... sparkly..."

I release him, laughing half from shock, half from Jacob's comedy. "I'm sorry... it's just... good to see you... oh God, Angela and Ben are going to freak!"

"Ben and Angela are here?"

"Yeah, they're um... well. Did you know Seth is still around?"

"Yeah..." Jacob shuffles his feet nervously, a guilty expression on his face. "I um... asked him to keep me a secret if he ran into Angela and Ben... I didn't realise..."

I bite my lip. "Ok. So... um..."

"How am I still alive?" he asks wryly, giving another smile.

"Well... yeah, I guess. I was surprised to see Seth... I mean, it's been a hundred and fifty years, Jake!"

Jacob sighs. I'd simply reach into his mind to find out – but then, I have more tact, and respect for privacy.

"The truth is, Bella... I imprinted."

My heart leaps. "Seriously Jake? That's awesome! But – "

He looks at me, and my heart slowly sinks back down.

"I imprinted on you, Bella."

I open my mouth, but before I can say anything, Jacob continues.

"I told you before, Bells. Imprinting doesn't mean instant love at first sight. It just means that the `imprintee` has someone to depend on for the rest of their lives, whether that's a lover, a friend, or a sibling. It was obvious you were desperately in love – _are_ desperately in love –"he gives me a piercing look, and I wince slightly. "so..." he holds his arms out. "Ta-dah! Instant best friend. Just add water."

"Jake, you know you've always been my best friend," I grin, hugging him again. "And here's your first piece of gossip..."

"Ooh, goody!" he fakes a teenage girls voice as best he can, and claps his hands energetically, before putting one on my arm. "Spill."

"Well..." I pretend to deliberate. "Nah. You're just going to have to wait until you and Seth are phased. We have lots to talk about."

Jake grins.

.

It's not too long before the sound of movement reaches our ears. One wolf, nine vampires. Jacob grits his teeth audibly, and I smack his arm lightly.

"Play nice, Jake."

We stand as the first of the party enter our clearing: Angela and Ben. Their reaction is reminiscent of a character on one of my old favourite shows.

"Oh – "

"My – "

"GOD!"

"Jacob?"

.

**Aro POV**

My little army, consisting of perhaps seventy vampires, halts at Caius' command at the edge of the sea. Without words, they align into our standard formation. There is a simultaneous intake of breath as my army prepares itself for our voyage. After all, why waste money on plane tickets when we can simply... walk?

It's a smooth transition from sand to sea, and in no time at all, we have covered miles under the ocean. Once safely out to sea, I look up into the shadow of a large ship. It will have many crew members, enough to sate the lot of us. I motion to Demetri and Felix; they nod, touching me to affirm – "Yes, Master." – and swim upwards at a lightning speed. Within seconds, the water above us is filled with flailing humans, all of whom are trying to get back on the boat. That isn't going to happen.

Shark attack.

.

**Bella POV**

I shudder. Those poor, poor people! I try to pull out of my vision as it shifts to one of a struggling man, a stereotypical bald sailor with tattoos lining his arms. A pale, skinny vampire with spiky black hair in a halo around his head has his neck in a tight hold, and the sailor's neck is snapped.

"Bella?" Seth shakes my shoulder gently, and I snap out of it.

"Thanks," I gasp, trying to shake the image from my mind. _There's something about that vampire..._

He's probably just a member of the guard. That's why I know him. Seen him around the castle or something.

"No problem."

Seth has already explained his theory as to why he has imprinted on Edward.

"He's gorgeous."

Emmett and Jasper took him off to one side to `warn him about what he's gotten himself into` earlier, but I don't think Seth cares.

Quite honestly, I'm pleased for Seth. He's finally found an imprint. I'm pleased for Edward too – he's found himself love again, and Seth is a nice kid.

I agree with Emmett and Jasper, though. I hope Seth realises how controlling Edward is. But then, maybe Seth can keep him under control.

However it plays out, it's going to be interesting.

I'm staying here, `holding down the fort`, as it were, with Jacob. Seth and Edward are the last to leave, and they're heading to the Amazon to find the coven down there. I don't want to know what else they're going to do in the rainforest. Emmett and Rosalie are on their way to Asia to pick up some covens from over there, whilst Alice and Jasper are finding the latter's old comrades-in-arms – if they'll come. Carlisle and Esme are in the UK and Ireland, picking up Carlisle's old friends, having already called the Denali family in Alaska, and Angela and Ben are in Africa to recruit some friends they made over there on a honeymoon.

I have an awful feeling that this is going to end badly.

.

**?POV**

Urgh. I hate walking underwater. It doesn't do much for my hair. Aro's going to have to find us a few more shipwrecks to make if we're going to keep this up; it requires a lot of strength. One sailor isn't quite enough. The last one I ate was quite stereotypical, I almost choked on the blood from laughing. Bald head, tattoos – one in the shape of an anchor on a bulging upper arm. His blood was intoxicated with alcohol – it was the closest I've come to getting drunk in a long, long time.

The shadow of an airplane flies above us, rippling in the water. It drags doom in its wake.

.

**Esme POV**

As we fly back from Europe with the Irish coven and a few English nomads in tow, I feel a sense of dread encase me like a shroud. I don't like violence. I loathe it. Huddling into Carlisle's chest, I pray.

.

**AN** So... reviews please? They help me keep track on what I'm doing wrong.


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note**: Chapter fifteen.

Yeah, yeah, I know. It's been over a month. Sorry about that.

Writer's block and RL kick ass sometimes.

This chapter is a filler, and not a very long one at that. I've got severe block right now, but I can't leave you all hanging for much longer. Ahem.

WARNING – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except tickets from You Me At Six and some for Kill Hannah

Twilight: SM.

Tickets: BKIGB

_5__th__ June 2108_

_Dear Diary,_

_Bella here, checking in. This is the first page of my 112__th__ journal. Just to let you know. _

_I'm writing this from a secluded room in Volterra, if there is such a place. Mat is on another mission for Aro, another undercover one. Aro's been trying to break into a coven in Texas – well, it's not really a coven, it's more of an army. Aro had to quash them around 200 years ago – give or take –because they were part of the vampire wars._

_Apparently one of the main ring leaders they were after was one Jasper Whitlock._

_Shut up, Bella._

_And don't talk to yourself, either. It's unnerving._

_Anyway._

_Mat's away. Angela and Ben are away too. They're travelling again. I told them and told them, the Sahara won't have changed since they last went two years ago, but no... _

_Apparently it's expanded another two metres in all directions since then._

_Yes, I'm bitter. I'm lonely. The only three people I can call real friends in this place, and they've all gone._

_I'd go and explore the world myself, but I promised Mat I'd stay here for him, wait for him to come back._

_And unlike some I could mention, I keep my promises to stay._

_I don't know when he's due back. Aro just keeps telling me that `it won't be long`, that `he will come back once his mission is complete.` _

_And what exactly is his mission, Oh Mighty And Fearsome Leader?_

_`That is not for me to divulge, __miei cari.`_

_Oh, great. Thanks._

_I tell you, when that boy of mine gets back, we're gonna have some hot, vampire sex. Nothing else compares, I tell you. And I may not be able to wake up next to him the morning after, but lying with him for as long as we like is perfect for me._

_Evidently, not for his Master._

_I keep telling him that Aro doesn't own him, that he should `hand in his notice`, as it were, and come and live with me and the Cheneys. He told me that he had a duty to Aro, because he'd promised 100 years of servitude when the leader changed him, but I reminded him that he'd been serving the Volturi for over 550 years, and he came round to my ideas. Until Aro found out, and set Chelsea on him._

_I know that my Mat's power is – well, powerful, but what about mine? I have Mat's, and so many others' under my belt, so to speak, but he lets me come and go. To an extent. He's STILL trying to reign me in as a guard member. I refuse him each time._

_It's nearing 6o'clock in the evening. It's nearly dinner time for the Volturi; I'd better get out of here. I can't stand the sound of the screaming._

_Bella._

**AN** *attempts to break down the writer's block*


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note**: Chapter sixteen.

Ok... it's been a while. I'm sorry. Writer's block and RL and AS levels and a ton of other sh*t has really kept me down.

WARNING – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except tickets from Kill Hannah. And skin cells from Mat Devine (I mean, I didn't get my inspiration from a band) passed from his hand to mine when I held it. Twice.

Twilight: SM.

Tickets and skin cells: BKIGB

**BPOV**

I sigh, and close my journal. Jake's talking to Seth on the phone. He's gone into my practise room to have their conversation, but it's not doing anything for their privacy – I can hear every single word.

It turns out that the imprint shared between Seth and Edward is of the platonic variety only, but Seth doesn't mind. He's perfectly happy being Edward's best friend for millennia.

Which brings me to my next train of thought. What happens to the wolves like Jacob and Seth? The whole idea of imprinting is supposed to produce nice strong wolf puppies to carry on the gene. I'm obviously taken – even if Mat is – well – and Seth's imprint is another man. A straight man. Jacob is the rightful Alpha, so that line is majorly important. Why has their imprinting worked like this? Are they going to have a romantic relationship with someone? I feel incredibly guilty that I can't be the romantic link for Jake; he deserves it, but as I said. Taken. And a vampire, forever frozen and unable to conceive. As Jacob puts the phone down, I hastily return to my journal to make it seem as though I haven't been eavesdropping.

_11__th__ June 2108_

_Dear Diary,_

_Mat's back! As promised, there was a hell of a lot of hot, vampire sex. I won't go into the details here – who knows whose hands this might fall into? ;) – Yes, I did just draw a wink face in my diary. After hacking into so many accounts, it seems that so-called `emoticons` are the way forward. You see them everywhere, and I must make an attempt to stay modern, even if I do have my CD collections. _

Strains of a melody float out across the wind to me, and I am in a stone-walled room. Infact, I am in a replica of my practise room, and it looks as though I have been fulfilling its purpose – there are cobbles missing, and the window panes are smashed. I am sobbing bullet tears that stay in my eyes, no matter how hard I try to expel them. A shadowy form is wrapping its arms around me, as though it is trying to comfort me, and a voice... I've heard that voice before... but who –

"Bella?"

I shake my head. Jacob is looking down at me, looking concerned.

"Are you alright?"

"Um... yeah. I must have been stuck in my memories, I was just reading my old journals..." I gesture down at the yellowing pages as though to illustrate this point. But when my eyes follow my arm, something doesn't quite add up. I was sure I was lost in the memories laid down in my journal, but there is nothing about such a scene in there. Just rants about Aro not letting Mat go free. Odd.

Jake sits down next to me, slinging a warm, teak arm across my cold, pale shoulders. The contrast is stark. He wrinkles his nose. "You still stink."

"Speak for yourself!" I nudge him playfully, trying to reign in my strength, and he laughs. "You smell like wet dog – not one of the most glorious smells on this earth – believe me, I know."

"Yeah, yeah, Miss Fermented Fruit..."

We banter like this for a while, slipping back into our old routine, and we re-estimate our respective ages. Jacob insists that I am 1019. I have no idea why, but I go along with it, just to regain the sense of normalcy for a while.

"So," Jacob grins. "What's with the freaky vampire sponge power? I don't recall you having much of one when you left us."

"Yeah... it took me a while to develop it," I admit. "Aro thinks it's because of my mom."

"Your mom?"

"Yeah. Renee was always very... perceptive. You could never hide things from her. I inherited a bit of that too – you know, Edward couldn't really hide what he was from me for long after you slipped me the hint. I guess that perceptiveness manifested itself when I was changed. I become aware of the powers of others, and can use the newfound information for myself."

"Woah. D'you reckon you could... you know, phase?"

"I doubt it," I reply, with a wry smile. "Besides, I'd sti-" I can't finish my sentence, however, because Jacob has tackled me playfully to the floor. "Bad wolf!"

.

**?POV**

"Ah, America. The New World. Those cattle we call humans were disillusioned to think that they were the first to discover the continent. I'd been there countless times before – who do you think caused those rabid dogs to transform in the first place? Two of my guard. Petty ones, really – that's why I sent them. I didn't mind losing them, and I found Afton to make up for it." Aro inclines his head towards the strong and silent guard at his elbow. "And here I am again, standing in the mountains of Washington." He inhales, the rest of us alongside him, breathing in the smells of the country, of the wood, the peat, the far off scent of the ocean. And blood. I exhale and smile.

Aro turns to me, an eerie leer on his face. "You, boy," he commands, pointing to me imperiously. "Take your soldiers, and locate us some dinner. Take Heidi." The woman in question sashays over towards my group, smirking in what she thinks is a seductive way. Quite frankly, I find it disgusting. She's a slut, to put it simply, and I have better taste in women.

"Yes, Master," I acknowledge him, and take off down the hillside as fast as my legs will take me. I can hear the other vampires in my group following me, and I veer off to the left through the woods, towards the town they call Seattle.

**BPOV**

My phone rings, jerking me out of my journals again. The vibrations flood the room, grating on the furniture and our ears.

"Hey Ben," I smile, stacking my journals back up in their boxes and storing them away.

"Bella, we've got the Egyptian coven," he tells me excitedly. "We'll be on the next plan back to Seattle within the hour."

"Good," I sigh in relief, and Jacob's face relaxes as my relief spreads to him, but before I can question Ben more, there is a bleep. "Oh, sorry... it's office hours here... back in a second."

"Kay-"

"Hey Jazz."

"Bella!" Jasper sounds breathless, and that's what has me on guard straight away Vampires are never breathless. Not in the least Jasper Whitlock Hale Cullen. "The Volturi are in Seattle."

**AN** I will give a virtual cookie to anyone who can spot the reference to an amazing TV show in this chapter. I once again apologise for the length of this chapter. I'm not in a good place right now, but thanks to all who have faved, alerted, and reviewed


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's Note**: Chapter seventeen.

Yeah, I know, I suck. I could give a long, long list of reasons why I haven't updated in a while, but my guess is that it'd probably be longer than this chapter. And you don't want to hear them, honestly. Simply put: sorry.

WARNING – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except tickets for three upcoming gigs... YMA6&The Blackout, Paramore, and Mayday Parade&The Maine

Twilight: SM.

Tickets: BKIGB

**?POV**

The girl is standing on a street corner, wearing blue skinny jeans and a long black coat. Her long, brown hair flows in the slight breeze, carrying the scent of vanilla towards me. She has feline, almond-shaped green-brown eyes, and at this moment in time, they are narrowed as she talks on her phone.

"I don't _care_, Adam!" she screams, hair seemingly crackling with unseen energy, fists clenching, manicured nails digging into her palms... _drawing blood._. "I don't care if Jack needed your help, and you're `five minutes away` now! I said to you, be here at seven! And it's five past now!"

Unintelligible mumbling down the phone. It seems as though Adam is trying desperately to keep his girl.

She turns round and spots me, eyes widening, tongue darting out to lick her bottom lip in what she thinks is a seductive manner. To be honest, it's disgusting. "You know what, Adam? Fuck you. We're over." She snaps her phone down and tucks it carefully in a pocket before meeting my eyes again. "Hi there."

"Hello. What's a pretty girl like you doing here, all alone?" I purr, stepping closer to her. She freezes, hypnotised.

"Ji- jilted by the boyfriend..." she gasps, unable to think straight faced with my charm. Dazzling, I think someone used to refer to it as.

"Shame," I reply softly. "Why would any boy give you up?"

"That's exactly what I was thinking," the girl smiles. _Conceited little – _

"What's your name, sugar?"

"Marie. Marie Winters."

"Well, Marie," I smile, stepping close to her in less than a second, my arms around her. "It's been a pleasure."

As I suck her thin-yet-fragrant blood down my throat, a gasp rings out behind me.

"What the hell, Marie! Hey you, get away from my girl!"

"Adam!" I greet him, stepping aside and letting Marie's limp body drop to the floor. Adam falters, his eyes widening. "How nice of you to join us!" He freezes, taking a step back.

"Get – get away from my – "

"Oh, Adam," I sigh, my arms crushing his rib cage in an instant. "I don't think she was ever your girl."

**BPOV**

Major Jasper Whitlock has taken charge. This isn't the gentle empath that I've always seen – obviously, except for my birthday -, it's the soldier of the Civil War. Maria's Jasper. Ben had been enraptured by Jasper's tales, and Angela had shuddered at the scars. But whilst they had been travelling, I'd seen the warriors brought before the guard for questioning, seen scars like Jasper's. I am not in the slightest bit bothered by them. My mind is focused on what is to come, when it will come, what will happen...

"...latest victims, Marie Winters and Adam Fraser," Jasper is saying. "Found this morning in a dumpster this side of Seattle. They're on the move."

Thankyou, Captain Obvious.

I move away, not wanting to hear the tactics directly. I head for my training room; I'll be able to hear the talk from there anyway, and I want to practise my more exotic powers.

Systematically, I wrench the cobbles from the edge of the room, and stack them in a wall against the closed wooden door. Of course, if someone wants to get in, it won't stop them. However, it'll make clear that I want to be left alone with my thoughts.

Mat used to appreciate my privacy. There was this... connection... between us, like we were mentally linked. If I wanted to be left alone, he'd know, and respect my decision. Unlike certain others I could mention. Ah, Mat.

A memory stirs in my head, the last time I saw him before he was deployed to the East. I've just kissed him goodbye, hugging his skinny body close to mine. He's wearing my favourite outfit on him, his black skinnies, his white shirt, black leather waistcoat. Spiky black hair, and a smile on his face. Pure Mat, effortlessly sexy. His fingers are tucked in his belt loops, and he's leaning back as he laughs. We were both confident we'd see each other again.

"Baby, I love you to death," he tells me, before leading his team out the castle doors.

My mind rewinds the memory, `pausing` it when he's at total ease, and project it onto the wall.

Sectioning off that part of my brain, I create fire from thin air, and outline the picture on the wall, burning Mat's impression into the stone. Unbidden, an errant part of my mind creates a watery image of Aro and Caius. Suddenly, the emotions of the past few weeks crash down upon me, and, in accordance with my abrupt loss of willpower, the water crashes down onto the fire, extinguishing Mat's figure, as the memory flickers and dies from the wall.

"... which would lead me to believe that the Volturi are currently in Port Angeles."

**Chelsea POV**

I glide across the mossy grass at Afton's side. He looks at his surroundings with wonder, having not returned to his homeland for centuries. My mind is concentrated on the guard, trying to keep everyone bound together in the big ball of vampire-strength wool. However, there is a loose thread, coming from the leader of one of the fighting groups. Aro passes me, `accidentally` brushing my hand as he does so.

"Make sure he's set on the right lines," he instructs me, and I nod.

"Yes, Master." The errant thread is roped quite literally back in place, and I watch as the light fades a little from my target's ruby eyes.

**?POV**

I can feel Chelsea's power working on me, and I have little choice but to give in. I know I shouldn't be here. There's somewhere else I have to be, near here, but not quite. It's frustrating, because I don't know _where, _nor _why. _We run past a giant billboard, and I snort as I see what it's advertising. There's a new vampire movie out, and they've brought out their own brand of tomato soup. The can is on the billboard in all its glory, the picture, a woman holding a large tomato in her clasped hands. The slogan? `Try our tomato soup! It'll eclipse any other you've tasted – you may even need a new spoon!`

Underneath, someone had graffitied : `It's thicker than our plotlines!`

We slow to a halt, and Aro turns to me. "You, boy!"

I bristle. I do have a name, you know. It's – I falter slightly. What is it?

"We do not need to face possible recognition." It is pointed, but I am confused. Of course we'll be recognised! However, all willpower to resist my Master is slowly erased from my body, and I obey him without question. It is my sole purpose.

**BPOV**

"Bella?"

"Go away, Jake."

"Oh no, you don't. Get up, Bells. They're here."

**AN** I'm afraid there were no virtual cookies for anyone last chapter. The reference was to Doctor Who. Apologies for the crap-ness of this chapter. The tomato soup thing was created last night by myself and a friend on twitter. . yeah. So...


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note**: Chapter eighteen.

*muffled apology through war bunker* have a free MCR reference.

WARNING – this is where the M rating comes into play!

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING except a guilty conscience

Twilight: SM.

Guilty Conscience: BKIGB

**BPOV**

I stand at the front of our arrowhead formation, against the feeble wishes of everyone else. This is my fight. I have the means to tip the scales, as it were... and besides, we're still a few short. In the distance, there is a dust-cloud, the evidence of vampires on the move. As it moves closer, I can pick out figures, Demetri and Felix in the lead, resembling the figures of Batman and Robin from the old cartoon. Holy milkshake, Bella.

Behind me, I can hear the loud goodbyes between mates. Esme is sobbing as she kisses Carlisle, her thoughts full of concern for her children, including Angela, Ben, and oddly, the pack. Carlisle is fighting with himself, trying to keep a level head as he comforts his wife. Emmett is trying to eat Rosalie's face, no doubt in an attempt to shield her beauty from the eyes of the guard. Her arms are wrapped around his neck, hands roaming over his shoulders as he struggles to hold the burden of his protective duty. Alice and Jasper are saying goodbye in their own little way, and Angela and Ben are wrapped around each other. Both couples exude love in the way reserved only for them, and them alone. The way which makes people feel guilty for even daring to intrude into their moment. The other pairs whisper their goodbyes, filling the air behind me with a humming, a force that excludes everything else and hones my vision in on each enemy as they draw to a halt in front of us like perfectly parked cars.

Aro and the brothers move to the front of the arrowhead, the dynamic duo in the lead parting like curtains to allow them through onto the rather muddy stage. Aro's hair flutters like the black flag of a pirate ship in the supernatural breeze caused by their movement as a smirk plasters itself across his paper-like face. It's unnatural. I for one have never before been on this side of Aro's campaign, and I can see why the Cullens have tried so hard not to be. Even in Volterra, Aro was the epitome of power. I guess I just never saw exactly how greedy my pseudo uncle was, too grateful for the fleeting comfort that he offered.

"Bella, mio caro, how nice to see you again!" his smarmy voice is slathered in fake happiness, the sound almost dripping from his words and causing me to recoil. He is a snake, dancing hypnotically in front of his prey – prey which he is not used to losing. His eyes glint a dangerous red through the film. "Angela, Ben… and you brought friends!"

"So did you, Aro." I point out bluntly, wishing he'd cut the act and get to the point. His eyes narrow, and he seems to scan the forest in our background with vision akin to that of a hawk; his eyes, like his blonde brother's, linger on the huge russet wolf to my right. "I just thought I'd even out the party."

Caius' eyebrow shoots up like a growing weed, seeming almost to disappear into his cracked skin. "With _werewolves_, Isabella?" he sneers, eyes cutting sharply from Jacob to me and back again, almost as if he were watching a tennis match. "You think so much of yourself so as to ally yourself with our enemies?"

"You know what I think of myself, Caius," I hiss scathingly, fighting the old urge to wrap my arms around my middle as I did in the old days. I resist, keeping my arms at my sides. "I would have thought that you would have recognised your _natural enemy_ the moment you saw it. If not, I'd say you'd be in for a bit of a shock."

There are sniggers behind me that Jane quells with a glare, a warning of what might happen if we continue to disrespect the self-imposed masters of the vampire world. I raise my eyebrow, daring her to make the move which she knows will be futile, and he glare turns to the ground, trying to wilt the grass or something.

I decide to carry on, slightly perturbed by the fact that there is also a member of the Guard smirking at my words, unnoticed by the witch twins. Using Marcus' talent, I can see that the bond linking him to the ancients is a strong, fluorescent green, the colour of nuclear waste. Man-made. Fake. Screaming `Chelsea`. "Besides, Caius," I continue, "this isn't a werewolf." I slap Jacob's flank playfully, and he starts, nudging me with his nose in retaliation. There are a few gasps from the shocked guard at my daringness. "The La Push Quileutes are shape shifters. They don't need the full moon to phase, they just need vampires." With that last revolution, I turn from my friend to face the ancients once again. "Creatures of the night, just like us."

"And I suppose you've tamed them, have you?" Caius sneers, causing the small pack to growl. "Tacked them up and gone _wolf back riding_?"

I keep my hand fisted into Jacob's fur as he tenses further. "Save a horse and ride a shape shifter? Didn't think you were into such things, Caius. What does Athenadora think about all these extra-curricular activities?"

"_INSOLENCE –"_Caius roars, even as I hear several "For God's sake, don't antagonise them!"s from behind.

"Aww, Uncle Caius," I simper. "You used to like me."

Aro cuts across his answer quickly. "Enough!" He glares at our party, eyes lingering on Carlisle. "Old friend," he greets him. "Why have you amassed such an army against us?"

We – Alice – foresaw that this would happen, and Carlisle knows his parts. It's all down to him now.

He surveys the vampires that have accompanied the ancients, and pretends to ponder his answer before giving it. "It had come to our attention that there was a large mass of vampires heading towards our location. It seemed only prudent to defend ourselves against a possible attack."

"From us, Carlisle? Your old friends?"

"We weren't to know that it was a known coven," Carlisle continues calmly. "Had we known that it was _old friends_ of the Cullen or Swan families, we most certainly would have welcomed them with open arms."

"Cullen or Swan?" Aro turns to me, one eyebrow raised.

"It would seem that it wasn't just us returning to our old home," I reply coolly, indicating Angela and Ben. "A week or so after I arrived, another coven moved to the area. We spent some time catching up."

"Rather unnatural, don't you think, to have so many vampires in one place? Allying themselves with each other?" Aro is pushing as much as he can, desperate for an excuse to rid himself of the threat against his trophy cabinet.

I nod towards the Guard and the additions. "Together, the two covens number only ten, Aro. The Volturi coven plus its Guard number over 30. That's three times as many vampires living in one place permanently. You _make friends_ wherever you go, making sure that covens are in contact with you." My voice has taken on a quality similar to that of a petulant child, whining in a "you can, so why can't I?" tone. "Surely there is nothing wrong with our alliances?"

Slightly stumped by my answer, Aro regains himself quickly. "It wasn't so long ago that your alliances were to anyone but the Cullens, Isabella."

His use of my full name indicates my position in regards to the Volturi now. It angers me, and this shows in my reply. "If you're implying that we were leading an uprising against the Volturi, Aro, you're completely insane. You of all people would know that I could incinerate each and every one of you right now, if it came down to it. I wouldn't need anyone else with me."

Caius snarls, with all the might of a dying lion. Poor thing. "If you continue with your insolence, little girl -"

Aro's eyes flash dangerously in accordance as he interrupts his brother. "Are you making threats, Isabella?"

"I think I am in some position to make threats, Aro. You created a dangerous creature when you sent my mate to his death." Edward inhales sharply at my words. _That's right, Bowie. _You have _no chance_. "Be thankful that I have managed to keep my barriers at bay. You would not wish to feel the pain of a mate's loss." I glance at Marcus as I say this, and there is a spark of life in his eyes at the mention of his torture. "By vampiric law, I have the right to avenge his death on those who caused it. He broke no law. He died for the whim of others, who were too lazy to enforce their own rules."

This has tipped Aro over the edge – but it has also alerted some members to the subtle hypocrisy behind the ancients. I steel myself for the inevitable.

"GUARD!"

**AN: I know, I suck. You don't want my excuses. You don't want my mind set either. But then, you were warned from the start that I had no set schedule… **


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's Note**: Chapter nineteen.

Hi.

Due to the mind-set of the author this chapter/drabble may not be the serious fight scene that you expected, but then this fic was never serious.

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Aro may be loosely based on Lord Draffsack (UK name) from Insektors, which I don't own either. Oh, and I don't own Captain Scarlet either.

Twilight: SM.

nothing: BKIGB

**BPOV**

The Elite guard move forwards in formation, the line of black cloaks creating an ominous line which blocks their masters from their opponents. Behind them, the so-called captains of the individual fighting groups chivvy their charges into blocks, each one directed at a section of our defence.

Alec's fabled mist begins its futile creeping across the ground towards us, eliciting a hiss from the more knowledgeable amongst us, Eleazar's the most prominent. Edward grabs me around the waist, placing me behind him in a gesture that I'm sure is supposed to be protective, but which is actually at this stage very annoying.

"What the hell are you doing?" I demand furiously, stepping back to my original position with a glare.

"Bella, I was protecting you love." Edward's tone of voice is patronising, and I don't like it one bit. A growl comes from one of the leading fighters, and I put it down to eagerness for battle.

"For the last time, I am not your love! I am _mated, _even if he is no longer around!"

"You don't seem so sure about his death, _love_. In fact you seem to be constantly reassuring yourself of the fact – are you _sure_?_"_

I shriek, fury turning my vision red. "Mat is dead, Edward, Aro told me, but he was my mate, and I love him still!"

"but a clearing throat from beside me reminds me of our place.

"Not the best time, Bells," Emmett whispers, nodding towards the mass of black which signifies the Volturi's approach. Their silhouettes are blurring as Alec's mist creeps up my shield, making vision difficult. Jane's eyes blaze with malice, but at least she has the sense to know that the use of her gift would be pointless – I feel no mental attack from her direction.

Growing impatient, Felix, a big, brawny guard to rival Emmett quickens his pace, charging straight at us.

"_Excellent,_" Emmett whispers, stepping forward towards the edge of my shield to meet the charge, but Rosalie holds him back.

"Wait Em – you'll step right into the mist!"

Looking disappointed, Emmett steps back to watch as his would-be opponent makes his would-be mistake, and runs into the paralysing fog. I glance sideways at him.

"Hey, Em?"

"What?"

I carefully expand my shield to wrap closely around Felix's figure, yanking him forwards until he is right in front of Emmett. I have to be quick, working before the paralysis can wear off, but Emmett is also fast, and he has Felix's head off before Aro can shout his indignation. The severed head is passed like a rugby ball down our ranks to the fire which Esme is keeping fuelled for just such a purpose as this.

The move has been made, and the battle is on. Demetri, enraged at his fallen brother, is the next to make an attempt on our defense; Alec pulls his gift in as fast as he can, but unwittingly traps the Volturi tracker in it as he does so. Aro hops up and down from the very back of the battlefield, screaming orders at Alec to make the fog dissipate, but to no avail. Demetri meets the same fate as Felix as Ben takes his head off in one fell swoop.

"That's for saying L deserved to die," he mutters, and Demetri rolls his eyes in his decapitated head, helpless as it is tossed into the flames, putting a definite end to the Volturi's two best fighters.

"Cowards!" Aro screams at us from his position behind a row or three of guards at the opposite end of the battlefield to the action. "Leave your shield, Isabella, and fight!"

"We are fighting, Aro," I reply calmly, not bothering to raise my voice as I know he'll hear it anyway. "We simply have different tactics. Whilst you send your best gifted fighters in first with absolutely no tact, we simply wait to ambush them from behind our defence –" here I gesture to my shield – "and rid the world of them once and for all. Now, who's next?"

Without waiting for an answer, Alec spontaneously combusts, and Benjamin of the Egyptians looks guilty.

"I wanted to find out if that mist was flammable, sorry."

"Well that's all very well and good," Carlisle granted, "but now we have this to deal with."

He gestures back to the front of my shield, and we follow his gaze to where Jane is rabid with anger, her eyes a dark black as she scratches at my defense.

"You bastard!" she screeches, irate. Turned at such a young age, her teenage tantrums were emerging with the loss of all rational thought, and now I _can_ feel her gift attempting to pass through the invisible wall. "You killed my brother!"

"My apologies," Benjamin tells her. "I didn't actually _know_ that the mist was flammable –"

Jane resembles someone who is standing too close to a railway track as the train goes past; she trembles with the force of an earthquake as I feel her gift building up for mass destruction.

"Dibs," Angela whispers, and I fling my shield around the one remaining witch twin and catapult her to her doom. "I never did like you."

With the Volturi's main four burning merrily at our backs, I glance either side of me to the vampires and werewolves itching for a fight, and returned my gaze to the advancing army.

"Chelsea's going to have to go soon," I muse. Unfortunately said guard member is one of those in Aro's protective wall, much too far for us to flame throw at. At her side, Afton crouches protectively, growling at the threat to his mate. Her positioning means going through a hoard of Volturi soldiers, and I glance back at Jasper. "Think you can get back there, Major?"

"If anyone can," he replied grimly. "Captain, Charlotte, you're with me."

His Southern friends reply with a "Yes Major" and step to his side obediently as Emmett mutters something about Mysteron plans, and I steel myself.

"You ready guys?"

"As ready as we'll ever be," Emmett assures me, and I nod.

"Alrighty then. Allons-y!" And I drop my shield.

Our abrupt charge from our defence (leaving Esme to man the fire) startles the opposing army, who twitch before they run to meet us halfway. Colliding headlong into a relatively new soldier, I incapacitate him with Alec's gift and tear him to shreds, spreading the pieces far apart. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Emmett and Rosalie fighting back to back against three vampires, who are taken care of easily and passed to Esme in pieces. Edward and Seth are tag-teaming Santiago and Heidi, who fall easily under Seth's strong jaws and Edward's piano-playing fingers. The other wolves have backed a block of ten soldiers into a last stand, separated from the rest of the battle, and are advancing on them slowly.

"Bella!" Alice calls, and I spin to catch a glancing blow on my back from a smirking woman with fiery hair. Grabbing her foot, I yank her back towards me and use the momentum to pull her head from her shoulders. Nodding to Alice in thanks, I head towards her position to help her ward off two attackers. The sound of tearing rock is everywhere, and screams of pain fill the void in-between. Angela is floating above the scene, catching the heads of rogue vampires thrown to her by Ben; she tosses them nonchalantly to Esme, who is being protected by Carlisle as she mans the flames. Our side is not without losses, however, and I shove a solider from my shoulders to see Amun's head flying across the field, followed quickly by the head of his mate.

The smell of burning swirls through the battlefield, curling around those fighting. As the next wave of vampires heads towards us, there is a shift in the air, bringing with it the scents of those approaching. I still in my actions to familiarise myself with them in the event of a skirmish, and freeze as a musky smell hits my senses, emanating from a tall blonde vampire in the center – the eager leader who growled earlier. Sensing my gaze, he turns to face me, and his red eyes meet my golden ones.

The sound of the fighting drops to a humming, and I get tunnel vision, my eyes focusing solely on the vampire in front of me.

"_Mat_?"

**N: Aro's character may also have been a result of me reading too much of Mama4dukes ' fics (hero.) and also The Stench Wars by BookishQua . **

**Read them as they are not written by an `author` who may tip over the edge at any time. That and they are amazing.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's Note**: Chapter twenty.

Hi.

Erm. Sorry, I guess. RL was a little crazy. My first few months of Uni were a living hell and I was kind of drowning in that along with family issues.

However, I finished my first year, and what with it being nearly a year since I posted a new chapter I figured I'd better get one out.

DISCLAIMER: I own NOTHING. Seriously. Broke as hell.

Twilight: SM.

nothing: BKIGB

**creepy voiceover guy PREVIOUSLY ON "PLAYING GOD"! /creepy voiceover guy:**

**BPOV**

The smell of burning swirls through the battlefield, curling around those fighting. As the next wave of vampires heads towards us, there is a shift in the air, bringing with it the scents of those approaching. I still in my actions to familiarise myself with them in the event of a skirmish, and freeze as a musky smell hits my senses, emanating from a tall blonde vampire in the centre – the eager leader who growled earlier. Sensing my gaze, he turns to face me, and his red eyes meet my golden ones.

The sound of the fighting drops to a humming, and I get tunnel vision, my eyes focusing solely on the vampire in front of me.

"Mat?"

**creepy voiceover guy AND NOW... /creepy voiceover guy:**

There is an eerie throbbing in the air, a pulsing which seems to cut off my hearing save for the ragged breaths of the vampire in front of me. His red eyes are cold, unfeeling, and devoid of the warmth which is usually present - the warmth which was always a beacon for me, a lighthouse, drawing me in from the frigid world.

"Mat?" I ask again, taking a tentative step forward, to which he hisses warningly. There is no recognition in his eyes, which I realise with a heavy blow to my cold heart. "Mat, _please –"_

"Bella, move!" Edward hurls himself towards me, knocking me to the floor. I snarl, instinctively bouncing straight back up and into a crouch.

"What the hell, Edward?" I demand, but stop as my growl is echoed by Mat. He charges forwards, his temporarily blonde hair whipping around his face as he pounces on Edward and pins him to the ground. Maybe Mat doesn't recognise me, but his base vampire make-up recognises me as his mate – and he will protect me to the death.

Or Edward's death. Whichever comes first.

The two vampires roll across the floor, clutching at each other madly, each in an attempt to unbalance the other, to _kill_. The fight is equal, Mat's fighting prowess matched by Edward's ability to read his mind and predict his moves. The rest of the battle seems to disappear around us, and I can only focus on the sight in front of me. My mate versus my ex. How cliché. Internally, I start to cheer for Paris.

Unfortunately, as much as I'd love to see it hammered into Edward's head that I am fully capable of looking after myself, I know that the Cullen family would be a bit put out with me if their little boy was killed off for simply being an idiot, and so I put myself firmly between them.

"Stop this," I order, my voice somehow still, defying the quaver that I know would have made itself known. "Edward, back off, and go fight someone worthwhile. Mat..." I sigh, turning to my mate. His eyes flash with something akin to recognition, and I put my hand tentatively on his shoulder. His frame trembles beneath my touch, and my fingers tingle.

"I wouldn't do that, Bella," Edward cautions from behind me, and I close my eyes in frustration.

"I'm not you," I reply. "Now go and mind your own business for once."

I want to try something, and once I am sure that Edward has moved on, I extend my shield out towards Mat, wrapping him up in it. It moulds to his body in a way so familiar that it comes almost instinctively. _My mate. Protect. _As the edges of my shield seal themselves together around him, he blinks. His eyes seem to snap open, as though he's just seen something incredibly surprising, and all hints of Chelsea's swaying power disappear, draining from his pupils as though someone has pulled a plug.

"Bella?"

His voice. Oh _God_, his voice.

Just to hear it again sends feelings of warmth flooding down my spine, setting my entire being on edge. My heart feels like it's on fire, swelling with emotion in my chest, which heaves with a sob.

"Mat."

"Oh _Bella_," he gasps my name like he's a dying man in a desert and I'm his water. "They told me you'd _died_!"

"I think we were both lied to on that front," I smile wryly, before launching myself at him in a rare, very public, display of affection. "Oh _God_, Mat – I missed you so much..."

Mat's reply is in physical form, kissing my forehead softly as he wraps his strong, marble arms around me as tightly as he can. I know he's dying to say the same, but Chelsea's influence was no doubt laced with a powerful amnesiac. Bitch.

"I'm terribly sorry to interrupt," Edward drawls sarcastically. "But this is neither the time nor the place for your frivolity."

I freeze up in Mat's embrace, before turning slowly to face the unwelcome intrusion. "And this is neither the time nor the place for your interruption, Edward. Go fight someone."

"I have been fighting, Bella," he sighs patronisingly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I've kept a multitude of Volturi underlings away from you whilst you were – well –"he gestures flippantly towards me as though the idea of my `frivolity` disgusts him. "I just thought that you'd maybe like to help."

"Thank you for your concern." I reply stiffly, reaching back to grab Mat's hand. "I suppose we'd better see this through."

Mat circles close, taking his former charges by surprise and betraying them one by one. I help where I can, taking down a relatively new member of the extended guard with Jane's power as it creeps up behind where Esme is dutifully tending to the fire. Carlisle is upon it immediately, tearing its head off and stoking the ever-growing flames. The wolves are in their element, Jacob a blur of brown fur as he takes down a fearful male who was on his way to the forest.

Emmett's booming laugh can be plainly heard over the racket as he strides through the melee, ripping and tearing, proverbial bloodlust strong behind his actions. His beautiful wife is fighting back to back with Ben, who has gained a battle wound –a scratch down his otherwise flawless marble face. He appears to have taken to it well – a sign of a soldier, toughening his nerdy persona.

His mate flies around the back of the battlefield, out of range of Caius' legendary flame-thrower. The Egyptian prodigy has his eyes on it, a steady stream of water dowsing the accelerant. The white haired ancient fumes in place of his weapon, and I stifle a giggle as Aro shrieks futile instructions at his dwindling army. This is definitely not going the way he'd hoped – although what did he expect?

My hands wrap around stone flesh, ripping limbs from sockets, hair from scalps... My vision is honed on the weak points of each enemy I face, making their demise easier. Idly I try to remember a time when this would have disgusted me - the way my teeth sank through someone's throat without any qualms-but I can't. I am too angry.

"Focus, Bella," Mat whispers, and I whirl to deflect a kick.

"Thanks," I throw a smile his way, and catch Edward glowering out of the corner of my eye. Sorry I'm not sorry, Eddie.

We're unconsciously moving up the field to where the Volturi elders are congregated. I know this will end soon, and I'm fairly confident as to whose favour it will be in. Or at least, I think I am.

**AN. Ok so it's not much, but it's better than nothing I guess. I'll try not to take as long next time.**


End file.
